SF 285 
.P62 
1913 
Copy 1 






n 




Published 

•The Farm JoiJMn^l 

Phila.delphia 



HORSE 
SECRETS 



WRITTEN. COMPILED AND NOW 
DISCLOSED 



BY 

A. S. ALEXANDER 

Profeuor of Veterinary Science, and in charge of the Department of 

Horse Breeding, College of Agriculture, University 

of Wisconsin. 



ALAS ! HE CANNOT TALK ! 
"I don' see much use in de scientis' folks study- 
ing monkey talk, but a study of hoss talk dat 'ud 
let de animal tell all about hisse'f befo' a trade 
comes off 'ud save a heap o' hard feelings." 

"Uncle Ezra," in Washington Star. 



PHILADELPHIA— 1913 

WILMER ATKINSON COMPANY 

Price, 25 Cents 



Q>^ 






^^ 



Copyrisht, 1909 

Copyright, 1913 

WiLMER Atkinson Co. 

Tenth Edition 

Ninety-fifth Thousand 



/ 



'>^^ 



©Cl.A3r)7 96 5 



INTRODUCTION 



Dr. A. S. Alexander, the writer and compiler of ''Horse 
Secrets," has had upward of 25 years' experience in matters per- 
taining to agriculture, horse breeding, veterinary science, press 
writing and teaching. He was the author of the first stallion 
service legislation and inspection regulation in America, the first 
law of the kind having been written by him and enacted by the 
Wisconsin Legislature in 1905. Similar legislation now is in force 
in si^iinc- iS ntlicr states, and it is accomplishing much for the 
improvement of horse breeding. 

Horse trading offers unusual opportunities and temptations 
for sharp practises. Both buyer and seller equally need to be 
horsewise and alert. Dishonesty is discountenanced in the great 
horse markets, but it is common among scalpers, "gyps" and small 
traders outside of the recognized markets and is likely to be 
practised by either the buyer or the seller. 

The items published in these pages disclose many sharp 
practises which, aside from their interest as facts not generally 
known, are valuable as information for the man who would engage 
intelligently in horse buying and selling. 

The writer and publishers of this book desire to expose these 
tricks, and to decry their practise in the markets and among 
outside dealers and breeders. "Forewarned is forearmed," and the 
information here given will doubtless save many a man from 
loss, and tend to make dishonesty less rife because less likely to 
succeed. 

In mentioning the various (ricks herein disclosed, the exact 
methods have not been given in detail. We have no desire to 
instruct readers so that they may "go and dp likewise"; for the 
same reason, doses have not been given for the administration 
of the various drugs and "dopes" used by tricksters. 

The matter relating to the purchase of stallions should prove 
specially interesting and valuable. It is a matter of general 
knowledge among the initiated that stallions are frequently sold 
at excessive prices to companies of farmers, and that "peddlers" 
of such stallions are unscrupulous in their methods of obtaining 
signers to the notes taken for the purchase of such horses. The 
facts published with respect to this fjusiness should serve to warn 
farmers that they are apt to be cheated in purchasing a stallion on 
the "company plan," and that it is always best, safest and most 
profitable to purchase a stallion direct from a reputable breeder 
or importer, for by so doing much money will be saved and the 
horse bought will be much more likely to prove sound and suitable 
and to give satisfaction. 

Dr. .-Mexander desires in this place to acknowledge his indebt- 
edness to the publishers of the various farm and stock papers 
from the pages of which extracts have been taken. Also to his 
many brethren of the veterinary world who have contributed from 
their storehouses of information, and particularly to that veteran 
horseman, Mr. J. H, S. Johnstone, of Chicago, 111. 

WILMER ATKINSON CO. 



HORSE SECRETS 



Contents. 



Horse Feeding Secrets 

Secret of Hand Raisine^ a Foal . . . 
Secret of Feeding Silage to Horses . 
Secret of Fattening Drafters . . . . 
Secret of Feeding Molasses ... 

Secrets of Various Vices . . . . 
Secret of Stopping Halter Pulling . . 
Secret of Preventing Mules from 

Kicking .... 

Secret of Tying a Mare with a-Foal 
Secret of Handling a Balky Horse . 
Secret of Curing a Stall Kicker 
Stopping Pawing in Stall . 
Preventing Casting in Stall 
Curii^ a Knee-Knocker . . 
Stopping Tongue Lolling . 
Curing the Stall Squee/^er . 
Secret of Easy Shoeing . . 
Making a Horse Lie Down to Sleep 
Stopping Head Tossing 



Page 

5 
5 
6 
7 
7 



Page 



Secret Tricks in Horse Trading 
Secret of Shutting a Heaver . 
Secret of Plugging a Roarer .... 
Diamond Cut Diamond ... 
Making a Horse Act Mean 
Blowing Air Under the Skin 
Stopping a Switcher . . . . , 
Turpentine and Gasoline Tricks 
Gingering a Show Horse . . . 
Unner\ing and CocaiTiing 
Keep an Fye on the Sign Board 
Secret of Hiding a Spavin 
Artificially Induced Knee Action 

Artificial Tail Trick 

Keeping a Horse *'In the Air" 

Wedging a Cribber 

Making an ArtiticJal Star . . 

The Loose Shoe Trick 

Wire Marks Over Side-Bones . 
Black Spots on a White Horse 
Broken Crest or Wrong Lying 
Concealing Discharging Sinuses 
The Galloping Past Dodge . . 
Keeping a Horse on Edge . . 

An Eye for an Eye 

Examine the Ears 
Bishoping— An Old Trick . . . 
How Bishoping is Done ... 



Mane 



23 
23 
2?, 
24 
24 
25 
25 
z6 
26 
26 
7 

27 
28 
28 
29 
29 
29 



A Sharper's Smooth Sayings . 
The Winter Board Trick . . . 
How Horses Catch Cold .... 
Tricks in Measuring Horses . 
The Twitch and Cording Trick 
The Secret Formula Swindle . 
Fooling the Expert Judge . . . 
A Magic Cure for Cramps . . . 

Color Secrets 

Training a Trick Mule .... 



Secrets About Stallion Selling 
Palming Of! a Grade Stallion . . 
Stale Stallion Registration Boards . 
Stud Books Recognized as Reliable 
Stuti Book Not Recogni;^ed .... 
Story of a Company Stallion Deal . 
Horse Peddlers' Confession . . 

The Sale of Les Epinards 

Secrets of Stallion Pedigrees . . . 

Some Veterinary Secrets .... 



Secret of Preventing Navel and Join 

Disease 

Symptoms of Bad Teeih 

Remedies for Tail Rubbing . . . 
A Cruel Cure for Heaves .... 
An Astringent for Scours .... 
An Old Operation for Spavin . . 
Secret of Drenching a Horse . . 
Facts About Pigment Tumors . 
Don't be Too Quick to Kill . . . 



37 
37 
38 
39 
40 
4' 
41 
42 



44 
44 
45 
46 
46 
46 
47 
47 
48 



Miscellaneous Secrets . 31 

The Widow Trick 31 

A Horse That Was Right There ... 32 

An Honest "Hoss" Dealer 32 



Secrets of Buying and Selling 

Horses . 49 

Auction Sale Rules 49 

Reputable Dealers P r o t ec I Their 

Patrons 50 

Two Sides to a Horse 50 

A Little HI to Distract Attention from 

a Big One .51 

Beware of Hoof Dressing 51 

Buying a Pair . . 51 

A High English Guarantee 52 

An Unsound Horse Sometimes a Good 

Bargain . . 5a 

A Second-Hand Horse . . ■ • - ■ 53 

"Protecting" the Buyer 53 

Splitting the Profit Three Ways ... 54 

The Recent Wound Trick ... 54 

Secret of Detecting a Dummy .... 54 

Pointers on Buying a Horse ■ ■ . ■ 55 

The Break Away Trick 56 

Secret of the Auction Ring 56 

To Increase the Amount of Bone . . 57 

A Glossary of Market Terms . . . - 57 



HORSE SECRETS 



Horse Feeding Secrets. 



Secret of Hand Raising a Foal. 

AN orphan foal can be successfully raised on cows' milk if the work 
is intelfigently and patiently conducted. Mares' milk is sweeter 
than cows' milk, but less rich in butter fat ; therefore, in using 
cows' milk for foal feeding, choose that which is poor in butter 
fat — 3 per cent, or thereabout — and sweeten it with sugar or 
molasses. The latter sweetening has the advantage of acting as a mild 
aperient. 

It should be remembered that the first milk (colostrum) of the mare 
contains a purgative principle for the removal of the meconium from the 
intestinal tract of the foal, and as the orphan foal does not receive this 
natural cathartic it is apt to suffer from constipation, which may prove fatal. 
To prevent this inject into the rectum of the foal, twice daily from birth, 
two or three ounces of warm water containing one to two teaspoonfuls 
of glycerine, and continue this treatment until the bowels have been moved 
freely, or warm sweet oil or flaxseed tea or slippery elm bark tea may 
be used. 

A mixture of equal quantities of cream, molasses and warm water 
also makes a good injection fluid for a young foal, and some horsemen 
insert a small, thin tallow-dip candle into the rectum for a like purpose. 

At first the foal should be fed once an hour, but gradually the times 
of feeding may be reduced in number. Feed the milk blood warm, giving 
at first half a cupful at each meal and with it three tablespoonfuls of lime 

water to the pint of milk. The foal 
will take the milk readily from a large 
rubber nipple fitted on the neck of a 
feeding bottle which must be often 
well scalded. A kid glove thumb per- 
forated and fitted over the spout of a 
small teapot will do almost as well as 
a rubber nipple and feeding bottle. 
Hand-fed foals tend to scour. 
When such trouble starts withhold two or more feeds of milk, and give 
one to four tablespoonfuls of a mixture of one part sweet oil and two 
parts castor oil in milk, according to the severity of the attack and 
the size of the foal, and repeat the dose every time there is any derange- 
ment of the digestive organs. Castor oil used without the addition of 
sweet oil is apt to be followed by a costive condition of the bowels. 

Soon the foal may be fed but six times a day, then four times, and in a 
few weeks it will freely take milk and lime water from a clean pail. At 
this stage sugar may be omitted and the lime water be given only once a 
day. The secret of success is to feed a little milk often and to keep all 
utensils scrupulously sweet and clean. As soon as he will take to it, the 
foal may be allowed to lick oatmeal in small quantities; gradually increase 
the amount and add wheat bran. After six weeks give a little sweet skim- 
milk in place of a part of the new milk, and by increasing the amount day 
by day the foal may at three months old take skim-milk entirely and 
continue to drink it freely three or four times daily while eating grass, 
grain and bran. 




O HORSE SECRETS 

Secret of Feeding Silage to Horses. 

It is commonly believed that corn silage cannot safely or profitably 
be fed to horses. Investigation shows that this belief is ill advised, for 
some horsemen feed silage successfully. 

A noted Wisconsin breeder has used corn silage extensively as a feed 
for horses as a part of the winter ration during the past eighteen years. 
The number wintered each year averages about lOO. His method is as 
follows : 

In making silage for horses the corn is allowed to grow until nearly 
out of the milk, as better results have thus been obtained than when it is 
cut greener. The silo is filled as rapidly as possible, and when full is 
allowed to settle for four or five days, when it is agaip filled. Care is 
taken to pack the silage tightly around the walls. 

The silo is opened about November 15th, when the herds have been 
brought in from the pastures. Care is taken to feed the horses lightly at 
first so that they may become accustomed to the new food. 

A large bin has been built, connecting with a room below the doors of 
the silo. This bin is filled from time to time with a mixture of four parts 
of hay and one of straw, cut about 3 inches long, by being run through a 
silage machine. The silage is always mixed with this cut hay and straw 
before feeding. The proportions are about one to five of silage by weight. 
By cutting the hay and straw, the amount wasted is reduced to a minimum. 

The corn is never taken out of the silo before it is ready to be used. 
The entire top is removed each day to a depth of about two inches. Any 
silage that is spoilt is thrown away. The silage and hay-straw are mixed 
thoroughly by forking over several times in the room, already referred 
to. By doing this the horses do not obtain all the silage at one time. Any 
grain that is fed is put in the manger with the silage. 

The amount of ensilage fed to different horses varies with the animal. 
It is found that no two horses eat the same amount and they are never 
given more than they will eat. The average amount fed will be stated in 
each case below. 

Aged stallions, used for breeding purposes, receive during the winter 
season about 24 pounds of silage per day. This is divided into three feeds, 
morning, noon and night. Besides this they are fed long hay and grain. 
During the breeding season they do not get any silage, as it has been found 
that if it is fed at that time there is difficulty in getting mares in foal and 
in raising a large percentage of colts. The reason for this is not known. 

Two-year old stallions receive about 20 pounds of silage per day with 
their other feed. Yearling stallions receive about 15 pounds, with grain 
and hay. Mares with foals receive about 20 pounds, and also grain and hay 
while the colts are sucking. This is reduced to about 15 pounds, fed twice 
a day in the stable, after the colts are weaned. 

Mares and geldings, from one year up, run in a herd together. They 
are fed morning and night about 15 pounds per day. During the day, if 
weather permits, they are turned out in a pasture and fed hay upon the 
ground. 

Colts, soon after they have learned to eat grain, are fed a little silage 
in the box stalls with their mothers. For this purpose small feed boxes 
are put in each stall near the mangers, where the mares eat. After being 
weaned the colts are fed about 7 pounds of silage a day with the grain. 
Alfalfa hay also is put in a rack in the yard, in which the colts are turned 
out each day, and they eat as much of this as they care for. 

The ration fed is higher than a balanced ration. There has never been 
any sickness resulting (roni the use of silage. The animals always come 
through the winter in good breeding condition and in proper shape to be 
turned on to pasture in the spring. 

These desirable results will not be obtained if moldy silage is fed. 



HORS2 SECRETS 7 

Such damaged silage is highly injurious to horses. It frequently has 
caused fatal attacks of cerebrospinal meningitis or "forage poisoning." 
Even if but slightly affected with mold it acts injuriously upon the kid- 
neys and horses consequently fail to thrive. Moldy silage also is a 
fertile cause of abortion in mares and other animals. For pregnant 
animals moldy silage is absolutely unfit for use, and even when in perfect 
condition it is recommended not to feed silage heavily to mares when 
well along in pregnancy. 

Secret of Fattening Drafters. 

The business of buying young draft horses and feeding them off for 
the market has been profitably followed by many farmers during the past 
ten years. The work requires skill and experience and is thus described 
by Prof. W. J. Kennedy, of the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station: 
"In one of the large horse-feeding establishments of the West the follow- 
ing method is practised: The horses are purchased, their teeth are 
floated and they are all put in the barn and their feed increased gradu- 
ally, as great care must be taken for a few days to avoid colic. It 
seems preferable to feed them grain about five times per day, due to the 
fact that as the stomach of the horse is proportionately smaller than 
the stomach of a cow, he needs his feed in smaller quantities and more 
often. The hay is placed in racks so that access may be had to it at all 
times. The horses are given all the water they will drink twice a day. 
The daily practise is as follows: Corn is given at 5 o'clock in the 
morning; water at 7; the hay racks are filled at 9 o'clock, when the 
horses are also given oats and bran, the proportion being two-thirds 
bran and one-third oats. At 12 o'clock they are fed corn again; at 3 in 
the afternoon oats and bran are given and the hay racks are refilled; 
at 4 they are given a second watering, and at 6 the final feed of corn 
is given. The proportion for each horse when upon full feed is as 
follows: Corn from 10 to 14 ears to each feed; oats and bran, about 3 
quarts per feed, making in all from 30 to 40 ears of corn and 6 quarts of 
oats and bran per horse per day. The horses are not given any exercise 
from the time they are put in the barn until a few days before they are 
to be shipped. As a substitute for exercise, and in order to keep the 
blood in good order, thus preventing stocked legs, Glauber's salt is used. 

In some instances horses fed in this manner have made a gain of 5% 
pounds a day for a period of 50 to 100 days. One horse gained 550 pounds 
in 100 days. In many instances from 12 to 20 horses have made an 
average daily gain of 3% pounds per day each for a period of 90 days. 

Prof. R. C. Obrecht, Kansas, suggests in this connection that colic, 
which is apt to occur among fattening horses, may generally be prevent- 
ed by taking care to prevent constipation by the feeding of succulent and 
laxative foods. He also considers it important to see to the shoeing of 
the horses as their feet may otherwise not grow out properly. It is 
also necessary to prevent the feet from becoming hard and dry thus in- 
ducing lameness. Among feeders it is a practise to frequently clip and 
singe the hair short over a curb, splint or spavin and so make the 
unsoundness less apparent; the hair may also be clipped from the 
coronets (hoof-heads) to make the feet look larger. 

Secret of Feeding Molasses. 

The feeding of black strap molasses came into vogue when the 
United States artillery and cavalry horses in Porto Rico required 
"plumping up." By free use of this readily assimilated fattening food 
mixed with cut hay or grass, horses that had run down to skin and bone 
and become covered with harness sores quickly gained flesh and 
acquired sleek, polished, sound hides so that their former drivers or 



8 HORSE SECRETS 

riders failed to recognize them. Although large quantities of molasses 
were fed to each horse daily, neither colic nor scouring was caused. 

Dr. W. H. Dalrymple, veterinarian of the Louisiana Experiment 
Station, says that the amount of molasses fed to the large sugar-mules 
of 42 plantations in his state is from 8 to 12 pounds per head per diem, 
or an average of about 9.5 pounds; a gallon of black strap molasses 
weighing 12 pounds. He advises that less than this should be given at 
first and gradually increased as the animals get used to it, though he 
adds: ''We have not experienced any ill eflfects from feeding the 
amounts alluded to." In fact, as high as 21 pounds per day has been 
fed in Louisiana without any untoward results. The molasses is mixed 
with concentrates and cut hay. 

Here is a recommended formula for molasses feeding on a lesser 
scale to working draft horses: 

Molasses, i quart; water, 3 quarts; cut hay, 5 pounds; corn-meal, 4 
quarts; coarse bran, 2 pints. Feed morning and night. Give usual 
quantity of oats at noon, and add long hay at night. 

The Department of Agriculture, in Farmer's Bulletin No. 107, states 
that molasses is an excellent food for hor.ses and cattle. It produces 
energy, maintains the vital heat, stimulates the appetite and increases the 
digestibility of the other constituents of the ration. That cane molasses 
is a satisfactory substitute for starchy foods, being readily digested and 
transformed into work: that 5 quarts of molasses can be given daily 
to a 1,270 pound horse with advantage to its health and the efficiency ot 
its work. 



HORSE SECRETS 



Secrets of Various Vices. 




Secret of Stopping Halter Pulling. 

There are many different ways of managing halter pullers and of 
these the following methods seem most effective: 

Take a strong but thin rope about 20 feet long. Put the middle of it 
under the horse's tail like a crupper. Bring the two ends forward-along 
the back, knotting them together at the loins and withers. Then pass 

one on each side of the neck, 
through the ring of the halter 
and tie to the manger along 
with the halter shank. 

Pass the end of tie rope 
or halter over the manger and 
tie it to one fore foot, so that 
the pull is equal on the head 
and foot. This is simple, safe 
and efficient. 

Put a good strong halter 
on the horse with a rope that 
he cannot break; then put him 
either on a plank floor that is 
about 4 inches higher behind 
than in front, or on a hard earth floor of the same slope. Have the floor 
very smooth, and wet it a little to make it slippery, if he is a bad one, 
and pad the sides of the stall with old sacks or blankets, tying them on 
with binder twine. As soon as the horse finds that he cannot keep his 
feet he will give up the pulling. 

Use a good halter and lo or 12 feet of strong rope or strap. Tie one 
end of the rope around the pastern of a front foot and pass the other 
end through the halter ring and fasten to a stout post or manger and let 
the horse pull. This will cure an ordinary case. If it does not cure a 
bad one, tie the rope to a hind leg, passing it through the halter ring 
and between the fore legs to the hind pastern. 

Tie a rope around the hind leg at the pastern and pass the rope to 
the opposite side of the body; run it around the neck where the collar 
rests and tie the foot up so that it will not touch the floor. Put a good 
halter on the horse and he will not pull very hard. 

Dr. F. A. Crandall, Jr., V. S., now curator of the Zoological Garden 
at Buflfalo, N. Y., and at one time assistant to Prof. Oscar Gleason, the 
horse breaker, says that he never found anything in the halter pulling 
line that could not be broken of the habit by using a good half inch 
manila rope in a running noose around the belly, with end through the 
halter and tied firmly to post or manger He adds "barrels, tin cans or 
any old thing may be thrown down and the animal will soon stand and 
the lesson will be remembered. This method does not dislocate tail or 
injure fetlock or in any way hurt the animal, although in some cases I 
have seen hair burnt off belly by broncho fighting the rope hard and 
long, but never saw it fail to land them." 

Mr. J. S. Teesdale, of Multnomah County, Oregon, contributed the 
following amusing account of the curing of a halter puller to the 
Breeder's Gazette: "I owned a horse that pulled back every time he was 
tied up in or out of his stable. I got very tired of it. I took him one 
day to a wharf over a river. There was, as is usual, a wall on the dock 
a few feet frorn its edge. I led him on so that his face was near the 
wall and his tail toward the water; and I stood him with his right side 



lO 



HORSE SECRETS 




close up to a partition that ran from the wall to the edge of the wharf, 

I stood with my body close to his left eye, hiding the river from his 

view, so that he could not see the water from either side. The river 

was a very silent one. I held 
him in that position almost an 
hour until I thought he had 
forgotten the river entirely, 
then I tied him to a ring in 
the wall, holding a sharp knife 
in my teeth as I did so. As 
soon as I had tied him he 
hung back as badly as ever. 
I cut the rope. He turned 
a back somersault and dropped 
10 feet into the river. When he 
came to the surface and 

recovered from his daze, he swam down stream to the end of the dock 

and landed. He never hung back again so far as I know, although 

he was tied a thousand times." 

Prof. Obrecht suggests that wherever it is advised, in the foregoing 

hints, to tie a rope around a pastern, it would be wise to substitute a 

strap, as this will be less likely to "burn" the skin. 

The habit may be caused by the stall flour being too high in 

front. Make the floor level; also make all of the stall partition high. 

•SO that the horse will not bark up to look over a lower i)art toward 

the rear nf the stall. 

Secret of Preventing Mules from Kicking. 

Dr. E. L. Quitman, V. S., of Chicago, originated a novel method 
of preventing mules from kicking. His plan is especially useful when 
some treatment has to be applied to the hind parts of the animal, or 
to other parts where a mule can reach with one of its celebrated straight- 
forward kicks. It consists in simply throwing a good strong halter 
rope over a beam or rafter and thereby elevating the mule's head as 
high as possible. The apparatus described elsewhere as suitable for use 
in drenching horses may be employed for this head raising act. The 
moral is that the mule cannot have both ends up at the same time; 
consequently he cannot kick. 

A man told the writer that if the tail of a mule is elevated and bent 
back over its spine the animal is unable to kick. We asked him to 
demonstrate and he did so. If the stable ceiling had not been there 
he would maybe have gone through the roof. Anyhow the elevating 

act wa'; a double stunt and the man 
will not be likely to advise or try it 
again. 

Mr. V. 'M. Walker, of Vernon 
County. Missouri, contributed the 
following to the cohmins of the 
Breeder's Gazette: "Take two straps 
1V2 inches wide with a good ring: 
have the straps long enough to buckle 
around the hind legs, one above the 
hock and one below. First buckU 
the ring in both straps; then take a 
stout rope, put a ring in the rope, and 
tie it around the breast of the collar 
so that the double will come back 
behind the bcllyband and make the 
ruig slay. Now lake another piece of stout rope, tie in the ring on 
the hind leg. bring it up through ring :it the bellvband and back to 




HORSE SECRETS 



II 




the other ring on the hind leg. Do not leave any slack tor the horse 
or mule to get his feet over. An animal can walk or trot in this 
rigging, hnt he cannot kick. I have brnkon several nuilcs in this way." 

Tying a Mare With a 

Foal. 

To tie a mare so that 
her foal will not get hung 
I in the halter strap, use a 
ring in the manger instead 
of a hole. Thirty inches is 
plenty long enough for the 
stale. Put a weight on end 
of the stale — an old bar shoe 
will do all right. All good 
horses in Great Britain are 
tied in this way, except that 
the chain is used. 

Secret of Handling a Balky Horse. 

A tired, balky horse is less apt to balk than one fresh from the 
stable, and such horses are oftentimes kept in harness right up to the 
time of sale. Also, when a horse balks, be careful to examine his 
shoulders. Soreness of the skin may be the cause. It is a trick of the 
"gyps" secretly to bathe the shoulders of a horse with an irritating solu- 
tion which in 12 hours or less makes the animal refuse to pull in harness. 
They do this with horses on which they purpose making a bid the 
following day in the hope that when the victim balks the owner will 
become disgusted and discount the price. Some horses balk when 
worked in single harness but go all right when hitched double. Chloro- 
form is sometimes used to make a balky horse stupid, so that he will 
forget to balk. 

The day before selling a balky horse thin glue or mucilage some- 
times is applied to mat the hair at places where the harness would make 
marks on a hard working horse. Artificial harness marks are needed 
as the chronic balker has not been worked by the seller. 

Kindness, petting, coaxing with a lump of sugar, carrot, apple or 
other dainty sometimes succeeds with a balky horse when harsh meas- 
ures fail. Cruel procedures should be discountenanced and punished 
and among these the worst trick, perhaps, is to start a fire of paper, 
straw or brush under the balker. Sometimes all that is necessary is to 
distract the animal's attention by pounding lightly with a stone on the 

shoe of a fore lout, by tying a cord around 
the leg under the knee, or by holding up 
one foot for a few minutes. 

When a horse balks, one way of curing 
him is to remove the harness, put on a 
halter, pull his head around, to his side and 
tie the halter rope in a slip-knot to a strand 
or two of the tail hair, so as to keep the 
head well toward the tail. Then he is 
forced to run around in a circle until he 
staggers and is ready to drop, when the 
rope may be loosed and the horse will be 
likely to behave and remember the lesson 
for some time. 

Some horses balk by lying down and 
refusing to budge. If the four feet of such 




12 HORSE SECRETS 

a siilker are "hog-tied" together and he is abandoned and allowed to 
remain tied for an hour or two, he will usually be thankful to get up 
and go on when set at liberty. 

One owner broke a balker by working him on a mower for a few 
days with his tail tied to the singletree tight enough to take part of 
the strain. After that he would pull by the tugs without having his 
tail tied. 

The "guy rope" plan is sometimes effective. A small rope is tied 
around the horse's neck and a half hitch taken with it on his lower jaw. 
A husky man then pulls steadily upon the rope and the horse will usually 
start forward with a lunge. If not a confirmed old balker he may give 
up the standing habit if treated in this way a few times. 

Light, rapid switching across the nose with a light whip sometimes 
starts a balker, but severe whipping has an opposite effect. 

The writer once was called to see a draft work-mare that was 
"down" in an Irish teamster's yard and refused to get up. The poor 
brute' was surrounded with whips and sticks that had been broken over 
her back, and her body was covered with welts from the whipping. The 
neighbors thronged around to see what would happen when the 
"Doctor" tried his hand at a job which had baffled their attempts. 
Examination of the pulse showed a normal condition and the mem- 
branes of the eyes gave no indication of sickness. After the mare's 
head and neck had been patted and stroked for a few minutes, and she 
had been spoken- to kindly and gently, she got up at once when the 
halter was pulled upon and the word of command given. Then she 
followed the veterinarian about the yard like a dog, recognizing him as 
her only friend, and ever since, that teamster has said, "Sure that mon 
has the power iv healin' in his hands!" Whereas, the abused mare only 
needed and wanted a little kindness and coaxing. 

Here is a cure for balking recommended by E. A. Gerrard: "In 
order to break a balky horse it is necessary to have the appliances, 
though the first requirement is a cool head. Next you will want a steady 
horse to hitch with the balky one, together with a strong hopple strap, 
a rope and a covered swivel pulley, and a good harness and wagon with 
a long tongue, though one of ordinary length will do. 

Fasten your pulley on the end of the tongue so that it will work 
free; put the hopple on the balky horse's hind ankle, next to the tongue, 
and tie the rope in the hopple ring. Now run it through the belly-band, 
up through the pulley and back to the end of the doubletree on the side 
of the balky horse, and tie it fast. See that your horses are standing 
even, making the rope snug, so that the horse can stand easy. Take off 
your stay chains, sever the line from the terrets on the balky horse, get 
mto the wagon, gather your lines so that you can have control, keep 
cool, and wait half a minute; then speak to the team and start the steady 
horse. As he starts he pulls his end of the doubletree forward and draws 
on the wagon, the other end of the doubletree going back, pulling the 
rope through the pulley and lifting the balky horse's foot. He tries to 
put his foot down and in doing so he takes a step. 

Say, 'Whoa!' and stop your steady horse. Do not let the balky horse 
make more than one step. Now sit still for half a minute, then start 
again, stopping as soon as the first step is made, by the same process. 
Sit still for another half minute, then repeat. Each time you will have 
taught your horse that when you told him to go he had to step. 

Now if you are a horseman get down, go to your horse's head, pat 
his neck, tell him he is doing well and that he will be the best pulling 
horse on the place. Then try him again. If he is very anxious to go at 
the word, let him make six or eight steps, then stop and sit quiet for 
half a minute. Gradually increase the distance you allow 'them to go 
each time, not forgetting to stop long enough to allay any excitement 
before starting again. When you have driven half a mile be sure you 



1 
1 



HORSE SECRETS 



13 



are back at the stable, take your horse out, have a bottle of strong 
borax water at hand and bathe his ankle for five minutes where the 
hopple rubbed it. 

On the next day hitch up with the balker on the other side of the 
tongue. With most balky horses two lessons will prove enough; often 
one will answer. But if the horse is old he may forget in two or three 
weeks, if rested much, so you will need to keep your appliances ready 
and put them on at the first sign of balking. 

There is little danger of a horse forgetting if he is worked with the 
same mate and driver; therefore, if you want a perfect job you will do 
well to change the driver and the mate while the lesson is fresh." 

Mr. F. H. Osburn, of Benton County, Indiana, is the author of the 
following method of handling a balky mare: 

"I had a good, true horse to put beside this mare, one which I knew 
could pull two such as she. Then instead of putting a stay chain to my 

true horse, I put on what I 
call a stay rope, looping it 
around the balky mare's tail, 
drawing it up short and tying 
it to the other horse's hame 
ring. Whenever I spoke to my 
true puller, some.thing else 
had to come, although the 
balky mare was not very 
hasty to respond for the first 
few lessons. We now have 
her convinced and I drive 
her single, ride her when 
driving cattle, can use the 
cattle-whip over her, and she 
pays no attention to it. At 
times she runs idle for a 
week or ten days, but she 
never gives me a minute's 
bother when I use her again." 

Secret of Curing & Stall Kicker. 

Various methods have been proposed from time to time for stopping 
a horse from kicking in the stall. Here are several gleaned from various 
sources: 

Strap a piece of chain, about eighteen inches to two feet in length, 
to the horse's pastern so that it will fly back and hit 
him each time he kicks. The objection to this plan 
is that the blows from the chain may injure the leg. 
A trace or stay chain will do. Another plan is 
suggested by Prof. Obrecht, viz., strap each end 
of a twelve-to sixteen-inch-long chain to each hind 
cannon just above the fetlocks. Some horsemen 
hobble the kicking horse with a single shackle, 
made of heavy leather and fitted with a buckle and 
keeper at each end. It is made sufficiently long to 
allow the horse to stand naturally, when buckled 
about each hind pastern just above the fetlock joints. 
I'ad the sides of the stall thickly with hay or straw 
kept in place by sacking. When the horse kicks at 
this and does not hear the sound of his foot strik- 
ing the boards, he will be scared and quit kicking. 

Buckle a leather surcingle around the horse's body back of the 
forelegs and to it fasten a small double puMey placed under the belly. 





14 



HORSE SECRETS 



Now place straps with buckles on them on each of his legs below the 
fetlock joint, having a ring in each strap. Take one-half inch rope, 
tie to the ring on one front foot, run it up through the pulley, back to 
the hind foot on the opposite side and, tie, then do the same with 
the opposite feet. Leave the rope long enough for the animal to step. 
When an attempt is made to kick, the pulley raises the front feet. Use 
this in the stable until the kicking habit is cured. 

lo cure a stable kicker, pack an ordinary grain bag tight with 
hay or straw and suspend it from top of the stall by a rope or strap, 
so" that it will swing free from the side of the stall and near the place 
the horse strikes the boards when he kicks. When kicked the bag will 
swing back and hit the horse on its return trip, and he will climb into 
the haymow, if he can. If the horse kicks with both feet, hang a bag 
on each side. 

Tie the kicking horse between swinging partitions, whether in a 

single or box stall. The parti- 
tion kicks back each time it is 
kicked by the horse. 

Prof. Harper suggests plac- 
ing an elastic band around the 
liorse's leg just above the 
hock joint. The band presses 
when the leg is lifted to kick, 
and this diverts attention 
from the act. 

An "Old Timer," writing in 
the Breeder's Gazette, sug- 
gests the following plan for a 
pregnant mare that is a bad 
kicker: 

"Have a collar made of i% 
inch, first-class, heavy harness 
leather, long enough to go 
around the mare's neck at the point where the collar fits, with i% inch 
ring at the breast, then get a strap i% inches wide, the full length of 
a side of harness leather, cut tapering to I inch or less at the tip of 
the light end, with 1% inch ring in the other. Then get 2V2 inch strap, 
just long enough to go around the pastern of the hind foot with % inch 
ring in each end. Have the edges of this strap slightly champered. Slip 
the collar on the mare's neck, put the short strap around the pastern of 
the left hind foot, the thin long strap through the rings on the pastern, 
then through the ring on the end of the long strap, and slip up snug 
and tight; next, run the strap between the forelegs and through the 
ring in the collar on the neck. Now draw it up snug wdien she is 
standing in her natural position and secure it with a slip-knot so that 
it can be easily removed when necessary. 

There will be no excitement about this, and no punishment. It does 
not interfere with the mare's lying down or getting up; all it will do for 
her wdl be to prevent her from kicking, simply because she cannot, and 
she will soon learn to live in peace with her stable mates. We have 
used this for many years without a failure, and we would be pleased to 
have all humane horsemen use it in preference to a long chain or heavy 
swinging block or padded stall." 

Dr. F. A. Crandall, Jr., V. S., very sensibly suggests that to cure 
balkers and stall kickers the surest way is to break all balky drivers and 
sulky stablemen and teach them to speak to an animal before hitting it. 
In the very interesting story entitled "David Harum" there is a 
description of how the hero of that book treated a balky one which was 
put on to him by some professional horse traders. Their warranty was: 




HORSE SECRETS 15 

"There ain't a speck nor a pimple on him, he'll stand without hitching, 
and a lady can drive him as well as a man," which, as a delicate descrip- 
tion of a balky horse, deserves preservation as a classic. 

Harum's treatment of the balker was to drive him to a lonely point 
in an unfrequented road and when the horse balked, tie him securely with 
hopples and a rope taken along for the purpose. When the horse got 
tired of standing still he essayed to move forward and found he could 
not. Of this condition he soon tired and after a time was liberated. 
When the word was given to go, Harum gave him a savage cut with the 
whip down the right shoulder — just one, but one that hurt. At the next 
stoppage the same performance was repeated until by and by the horse 
began to expect that awful cut with the whip when his driver said 
"Get up." "The deacon who purchased the horse, under the same 
warranty given David, had less luck with him. 

The association of the infliction of a savage cut with the whip fol- 
lowing failure to obey a command will always make a thorough impres- 
sion on any horse's mentality. A personal trial of Harum's method 
of fixing up a balker succeeded perfectly in a case undertaken by the 
writer. The use of the single cut with the whip is invariably successful 
as a remembrancer with any horse. It is a great cure — the greatest — 
when punitive measures are necessary. 

Stopping Pawing in Stall. 

It has been suggested that some horses are so nervous that the 
presence of rats or mice in the stable causes them to paw or kick at 
night. This is another reason for the extermination of vermin which 
at all times are a nuisance in the stable. When a horse persists in 
pawing all night long this may indicate that he has had too little hay, 
or lacks bedding, or suffers slight collicky pains from formation of gas. 
A horse suffering from impaction (stoppage) of the bowels always 
paws. Chronic pawing may also be due to a steeply inclined stall floor 
which strains the tendons of the legs. Simple causes of this sort may 
easily be removed. A two by four scantling spiked across the stall 
floor just back of where the heels come when the horse is standing up 
often will prevent pawing. When the horse starts to paw the scantling 
trips the foot, astonishes the horse and causes him to desist for fear 
of the unknown obstacle. A horse may quit pawing if allowed a box 
stall, instead of an ordinary stall. Idle horses sometimes paw so 
persistently near meal times that they make themselves lame. We 
knew a fine trotting stallion to become lame in this way. Navicular 
disease was diagnosed by the veterinarian, but later pawing (pound- 
ing) was found to be the true cause. This was stopped by hanging 
several flat pieces of lead from strings tied to a breast collar. These 
struck the horse on the knees and forearms when he started pawing. 
The lameness speedily subsided on removal of the cause. 

Brainard, a successful horse trainer, suggests the following way 
to prevent pawing in the stall: "Buckle a strap above the knee. Take 
a piece of rope six inches long; tie one end to strap, other end to a 
round piece of wood to be hung down in front of leg. As he paws 
the block hits the horse's leg and he soon learns to stand quiet to 
evade punishment from the block." 

Preventing Casting in Stall. 

Many a good horse breaks its neck, back or a leg by getting cast 
in the stall. To prevent such casting and the serious results alluded to, 
the front boards of the manger and hay rack should be boarded down 
flush to the floor. Where a space is left between the floor and the 
bottom of the manger the fore feet of the horse often become caught 



l6 HORSE SECRETS 

there and throw him as he attempts to rise. Where the halter rope 
or strap is too short and made fast instead of running in a ring or hole 
the accident is more likely to happen. An unnecessarily wide stall also 
induces the accident as does a box stall that has perpendicular walls, 
loose planks running lengthwise or weak planks set in an upright 
fashion. The heel calkins are apt to catch between the planks when 
the horse kicks and so cast the animal or hold him down. Box stall 
walls and partitions should flange out a foot or so at the base. This 
prevents casting and makes tail rubbing impossible. 

When a cast horse cannot be turned over, pulled out of the stall 
or made to rise, the first step should be to remove the partition against 
which he lies. Then turn him over and examine for fracture of the leg. 
If the leg is sound, brisk rubbing will cause the blood to circulate, 
relieve the numbness and enable the animal to get up. 

Brainard suggests the following mechanical treatment for a horse 
that has the habit of getting cast in the stall: "Take a small rope long 
enough to reach from the ceiling to within two and a half feet from the 
floor. Fasten one end to ceiling in center of stall, directly over horse's 
head when he is lying down. Snap the lower end of rope into a ring 
sewed to head piece of halter between horse's ears. Tie as usua] with 
halter strap to keep horse in place. When he lies down and tries to 
roll, this rope keeps his head in a perpendicular position. As he can 
neither lay his head upon the floor nor place its weight upon the halter 
strap, he cannot roll and therefore will not get cast." 

Curing a Knee-Knocker. 

The fault of hitting the knees with the opposing front feet is the 
hardest the trainer of trotters has to combat. Few horses, unless 
pigeon-toed, go quite clear there when at speed at the trot. All nigger- 
heeled horses strike the knees. As the knee is a true hinge joint, and 
the direction of the leg cannot be changed as in the case of the hind 
leg, which is controlled by a ball-and-socket joint, the force of gravity 
must be invoked. Some horses never are cured of the fault of banging 
their knees, and almost all racing trotters wear knee-boots. 

Horses which have this fault may be greatly benefited in most cases 
by applying weight to the inside of the front feet — not the outside. The 
weight is supplied in the form of a thin strip of lead, fitted with spurs, 
on the lower side to enter between the shoe and hoof, and attached to 
the hoof by countersunk screws after the fashion of toe weights. The 
weight may extend from near the toe to the quarter, and be more or 
less according to the shape and direction of the foot and the location 
and method of striking the knee. Hanging weight on the outside of 
the shoe has a tendency to make the action closer than ever. 

This applies only to the fore legs. To widen the action of the 
hind legs, controlled by the ball-and-socket joint, the weight is applied 
on the outside. 

Secret of Stopping Tongue Lolling. 

Some horses let the tongue dangle out of the mouth when in 
harness. This is an eyesore, depreciates the horse's value and may 
result in injury to the organ. The habit is induced by severe bits, 
frosted bits, hard pulling on the reins, caustic medicines and pulling 
out the tongue when administering medicine. Most of these causes 
may easily be avoided. In some cases the tongue will not be protruded 
if a strap is buckled around the nose just in front of the bit rings. A 
"spoon bit," to prevent tongue-lolling, is constructed as follows: A 
straight bar-bit is fitted with guards at each end, and a flat piece of 
steel two and one-half inches wide and three or four inches long is 
attached to the bar. The flat piece of steel rests on the tongue when 



HORSE SECRETS 17 

the bit is in place, and extending two inches or so back of the bar 
makes it impossible for the horse to get his tongue back far enough to 
get it over the steel. The two guards prevent the tongue from being 
protruded at either side of the mouth. Dr. F. A. Crandall, Jr., V. S., 
suggests that, instead of metal, a piece of light harness or boot top 
leather may be used. The leather should be 2% inches wide and 6 
inches long. This is folded over a bar bit and then stitched in place 
so as not to slip on bit. It is put in the mouth with point of leather 
to back of mouth on top of tongue. This will prevent tongue lolling 
in 90 per cent, of cases, unless paralysis of the tongue is present. 
Where that condition exists amputation of a portion of the tongue is 
the only remedy. This is recommended by Dr. Grenside, V. S., who 
advises that by use of anaesthetics and antiseptics the operation may 
be rendered practically painless and non-dangerou":. 

Secret of Curing the Stall Squeezer. 

Some horses will allow the feeder to enter the staK at feeding 
time, and bite him as he turns to leave, or squeeze him agaihst the 
stall partition, or kick him out of the stall. Other horses will do 
the squeezing act at every feeding or harnessing time. These are 
annoying and dangerous vices. One stall biter was cured in a rather 
cruel way. The attendant provided himself with a hot poker, and 
held it behind him as he stepped up to feed the horse. When the 
vicious beast turned to bite he got the red-hot poker in his mouth 
instead of the expected "pound of flesh," and ever after carefully 
avoided a possible repetition of the sore and terrifying experience. A 
smart tap on the nose with a stick, each time the horse tries to bite, 
may break up the habit. Hobbling stops the kicking. The squeezing 
stunt may be cured by means of the following rig: Buy two small 
iron pulleys. Suspend one by means of a bit of chain above the 
level of the horse's head at the left or "near-side" of the stall parti- 
tion, and adjust the other pulley to the left hand stall post. Run a 
small, strong cotton rope through the pulleys, and by means of a 
snap-hook attach one end to the ring of the halter on the left side 
of the horse's head; the slack of the free end of the rope being wound 
around a metal or wooden cleat nailed to stall post. To enter the stall 
pull upon the free end of the rope until the horse's head is raised and 
pulled over to the left; then secure the rope to the cleat to keep the 
head in that position. Now shove the hind parts of the horse to the 
right in the stall. This is easily done, and by this means the horse 
in time may be trained to allow one to enter the stall on the left 
side. Then, if so, the same training may be applied to the right side. 

Secret of Making a Horse Easy to Shoe. 

When one gives the subject a little thought, it does not seem 
strange that a colt should become vicious and difficult to shoe. The 
cause is fright, and often cruelty and abuse at the first time of shoeing. 
The young colt, three-year-old or over, when imperfectly "broken," 
and quite unaccustomed to many things that do not alarm or worry 
the old, experienced work-horse, is suddenly led into the shoeing 
shop and instantly exposed to many terrifying sights and sounds. 
There is the roar of bellows and fire, the ringing of the anvil under 
the hammer, the showers of sparks, the sight of fire and red-hot iron. 
the smell of smoke and burning hoof-horn. The voices of men and 
association of strange horses. Then a strong, rough man suddenly 
lifts a fore foot, holds it- in a grasp of steel, and starts to nip, and cut, 
and rasp the hoof, fit on it a red-hot shoe, and finally hammer in half 



1 8 HORSE SECRETS 

a dozen long, slim nails. All the while there is torture from cramped 
joints and muscles bent unnaturally during the act of shoeing, and 
over and above all the terrible fear engendered by the fearsomt 
experience. Once "scared to death" in this way the horse may remain 
vicious for life, so far as shoeing is concerned. 

Prevent all this in the training process, while the colt is young, so 
that before he makes his first visit to the shoeing shop he will have 
become perfectly accustomed to having his feet raised and held, and 
hammered and rasped, and to see and hear all of the things to be 
later met with in the shop. So taught, and then gently and sensibly 
handled in the shoeing shop, he will not be difficult to shoe, and 
will not develop "vice." 

Secret of Makin£( a Horse Lie Down to Sleep. 

Some horses persist in standing up to bleep. They tend to become 
tired and are lazy or sluggish at work. In some cases the cause is 
rheumatism, or sprain of the muscles of the loins, the affected horse 
fearing to lie down, as he may be unable to arise, or have difficulty 
in rising. In some cases the six bones forming the loins (lumbar 
vertebra) have become united (anchylosed) so that a fracture of the 
part becomes imminent should the horse lie down. This is most 
liable to prove true in old, rheumatic horses, and those that persist 
in standing while asleep. The fracture may occur when the sleeping 
horse suddenly falls down in his stall, or it may happen when he is 
"cast" to undergo an operation. Nervousness in many instances keeps 
a horse from lying down to sleep. His mates keep him awake, or 
rats and mice may have that effect. Often he will lie down at once 
if turned into a secluded, well-bedded box stall. It has been suggested 
by Prof. Harper that two or three days of extra hard work should 
be given to the horse that will not lie down. During this time he is 
to be fed in a common stall at night, but on the night of the second or 
third day he is to be brought in late, when the stable is quiet, and 
turned loose into a box stall, bedded with fresh straw up to his knee.^ 
and hocks. He will then usually eat his feed and lie down at once, 
and then should not be disturbed until he gets up of his own accord 
It has also been suggested to tie a five-pound weight to such a horse's 
tail, so that it will hang about four inches above the hocks, and by 
its dragging strain induce the animal to lie down. Avoid buying a 
horse that has an anchylosed back. It will be found that such a horse 
cannot turn around naturally and easily, as does a sound horse. He 
jumps around, when made to turn sharply after a trot to halter Test 
every old horse in this way. 

Secret of Stopping Head Tossing. 

It is most annoying when a horse continually tosses his head 
when being driven, and owners are at a loss to know what is the cause. 
Usually it is the bit. An examination will be likely to show that the 
bit is fastened in such a way as to irritate the corners of the mouth, 
the straps being too tight; or the bit is rough from rust, or has been 
put in the mouth when frosted, so that the tongue has been injured 
A man once sent us this inquiry: "Will a frosted bit hurt a horse's 
mouth?" And we answered: "Try it in your own mouth, brother." Of 
course it hurts. Dip the bit in water and so remove the frost. To 
prevent head tossing take a strap about six inches long, with a loose 
ring, a snap-hook at each end. Snap the strap to each bit ring so 
that the loose ring will hang under the lower jaw. Secure a strap to 
loose ring and pass it down between the forelegs and snap to a ring 
of the bellyband. 



HORSE SECRETS I9 



Secret Tricks in Horse Trading. 



Secret of Shutting a Heaver. 

Heaves or broken wind more commonly perhaps than any other 
unsoundness, offers opportunity and necessity for skilful handling by the 
trickster in horse dealing. There are numerous plans for the temporary 
rehef of this disease, and so skilfully is the work done that often it is not 
suspected or discovered under twenty-four hours following a purchase. 
The "patient" receives no bulky food and all feed is wetted. Sometimes 
ammonia water is used in sprinkling the hay, and the observant buyer may 
detect this by the odor. Lime water or a solution of baking soda also is 
frequently used. An examination of the bit may show that it has been 
"medicated"; and allowing the horse to drink all the water he wants 
will be likely to disclose the heaves when he is made to gallop or pull a 
load. A pint of whiskey well diluted with water given as a drench 
also will be likely quickly to offset the effect of drugs. 

Dr. A. M. Henderson, V. S., of Illinois, states that sometimes when 
a heavey horse is "shut off" his nostrils will continue to dilate to such an 
extent that anyone can see it. To prevent this the sharp dealer has been 
known to slit the nostril through the thin part so that it will collapse. 
He adds that it is a common practise for such men to blow boracic acid 
down the horse's throat to stop the cough sometimes persistent after the 
heaving has been stopped by drugging. 

It is not the province of this book to furnish formulae of the mixtures 
or medicines used to "dope" or "shut" heavey horses, but rather to put 
the buyer on his guard so that forewarned he may be forearmed. There- 
fore, the following "dopes" employed for dishonest purposes are 
mentioned: 

Arsenic, stramonium, lobelia, indigo, chloral hydrate, opium, melted 
lard, lead shot, raw eggs, milk, fresh ox blood, vinegar, kerosene, slaked, 
lime in drinking: water, etc., and in olden days a fistulous opening was 
made in connection with the rectum for the free and silent passage of gas. 

If the buyer is allowed twenty-four hours in which to reject a horse, 
heaves, if present, will usually show up in that time if the horse is given 
an abundance of drinking water and bulky food and then is put to work. 

Secret of Plugging a Roarer. 

It is well to examine the horse's nostrils when making a purchase, 
otherwise he may sneeze out a sponge or two on arriving at his new 
home. The sponges are inserted to prevent a "roarer" from making a 

noise when breathing. This is also 
accomplished by fastening a spring 
truss to the nose band of the bridle 
in such a way that it causes pressure 
upon the false nostrils and so lessens 
the intake of air when the horse is 
in motion. 

Sponges even of fine quality clog 
with mucus if left in place too long. 
Dealers tie fine cords to the sponges 
and by this means pull them out 
of the nostrils as soon as the horse is 




20 HORSE SECRETS 

sold. Another plan is to cut off the ends of a lemon, squeeze it dry, and 
then insert it in the nostril. It is left there with impunity as it will 
soon dry out, shrivel and be sneezed out of the nostril. 

Another trick is to pack the horse's sheath with oakum to prevent 
unpleasant noises when he is trotting; and the vagina of a lacerated 
(gill flirt) mare may be similarly treated for a like reason. Laceration 
of the perineum, an accident occurring at parturition, is usually 
incurable, hence the importance of making a careful examination when 
buying a mare. 

Diamond Cut Diamond. 

It is not always at the time of making a sale that the "gyp' practises 
sharp tricks. When occasion offers he has been known purposely to 
depreciate the value of a horse he wishes to buy. If he can make it 
appear that the horse is lame, sick, broken-winded, weak-eyed or balky, 
he may acquire him at a discount, and he has secret methods of accom- 
plishing his dishonest ends. A fine wire or cord tied around the pastern 
soon causes symptoms simulating those of founder; or the horse limps 
painfully after a horse-hair has by means of a needle been passed through 
a certain part of his leg, or when a small nail has been driven into the 
foot or a gravel or bean put under the shoe. A horse will stop eating and 
so appear sick when tallow has been smeared upon the roof of the mouth 
and inner side of the upper incisor teeth; or refuse to pull when his 
shoulders and breast have been bathed with an irritating solution of 
corrosive sublimate, tincture of cantharides, or tartar emetic; or seem to 
have glanders when fresh butter has been melted and poured in his ears; 
or afflicted with eye disease when whole flaxseed has been chewed and 
rubbed on the eyes; or he can be made fractious by an application of a 
caustic fluid. 

The owner should make a careful search for such causes of unsound- 
ness should his horse mysteriously go wrong at the time when a trade is 
pending, and on recognizing the possibility of a trick it is better to call 
the deal off than to discount the price. 

Dr. H. Fulstow, V. S., of Ohio, gives the story of an actual case of 
conceahng an unsoundness which may serve to put many a novice on 
his guard. He says: "I knew of a fine race horse with a low mark, that 
went wrong in the foot from "navicular disease." A gentleman corres- 
ponded by letter with the owner about him and agreed to come and see 
him on a certain day; so the foxy owner had a small hole cut in the 
sole of the lame foot and ran in some tar and then applied a poultice. 
When the intending purchaser arrived the owner informed him that he 
was very sorry, but that the horse had stepped on a nail the day before 
while being jogged, was in no shape to show, but would no doubt be all 
right in a day or two. The buyer having come quite a distance, looked 
the horse over, removed the poultice and saw for himself the evidences of 
a recent nail prick. He bought the horse, and the sharp owner, while the 
deal was being made, kept telling the buyer that he ought to leave him 
for a while and come back to see him when fully recovered." Dr. Ful- 
stow adds: "I may say that the horse never was worth a dollar for 
racing purposes." 

Making a Horse Act Mean. 

When a "gyp" dealer learns that a farmer is having diflSculty in 
training a high-strung yoimg horse, he tries to buy him at a discount, 
and unless closely watched will try to make the horse act mean when 
examined. He asks the owner to harness or ride the horse, and divert- 
ing his attention for a moment, applies an irritating substance to the 



HORSE SECRETS 



21 



heels, or some other part 
of the animal, causing 
him to kick, plunge and 
attempt to run away. He 
calls his secret dope "dog 
water," "hop up," "soup" 
or "fog," and its effect 
is intended so to disgust 
the horse owner that he 
will be glad to sell the 
fractious beast at a 
bargain. 

Dr. B. F. Holmes, V. 
S., of Wisconsin, states 
that "soup" has also been 
used to make a horse 
show symptoms of vio- 
lent colic. For this pur- 
pose it is thrown upon 
,, . ,,„ , the abdomen by means of 

a small syrmge. When the horse becomes violently sick the intending 
purchaser 'backs up" and manages to get a scaled down price on the 
anmial by agreemg to run chances of its recovery. Used on the hips 
the soup makes the animal a vicious kicker and the price is "docked" 
in consequence, as in the case of induced colic. 

Often, should a buyer visit a scalper's stable in the city, he will 
be shown a fine-looking horse and attractive harness and wagon The 
price asked for the horse and outfit is a low one, and the stranger 
jumps at the chance to acquire the property; but just as the horse is 
being hitched up, he begins to kick or behave badly under the influence 
of a dose of "soup." The intending buyer immediately suflfers from 
cold feet, and is readily induced to take an inferior horse. The fine 
horse and outfit are thus used times without number to attract buyers 
and assist in the sale of unattractive, cheap horses at profitable prices. 




Blowing Air Under the Skin. 

When the muscles of the shoulder have wasted away, constituting 
the condition termed "sweeny," air sometimes is blown under the skin 
to give the part a plump condition. This trick is easily detected, for 
when the hand is passed over the inflated part it crackles (crepitates) 
showing the presence of air under the skin (emphysema). The same 
trick is practised to make an old horse appear younger than he really 
IS, the hollows over the eyes being blown up by means of a hollow 
needle, quill or straw passed through the skin. This is called "puffing 
the glins." For low hip and atrophy of the shoulder muscles we have 
also known tricksters to inject a two per cent, solution of phenol under 
the skin and then thoroughly massage the part. 



Stopping a Switcher. 

Apart from operating upon the muscles of the tail to prevent 
switching, which often is a bad vice in mares, dealers resort to the 
following trick: The tail is tied up over the horse's back as tightly 
»s possible and left in that position over night. It becomes so numbed 



22 



HORSE SECRETS 




by this treatment that the 
horse is unable to use it for 
half a day or so after it is 
let down. 

The switching habit is 
also mechanically prevented, 
when the mare is hitched, by 
fastening a strand of the hair 
or string from each side of 
the tail to a part of the 
breeching of harness. 

Tail switching is less likely 
to be noticed by the buyer if 
the tail is tied up or braided. Therefore, it is well to let the tail down 
for this and other reasons before deciding to buy the horse. 

The Turpentine and Gasoline Tricks. 

Temporarily to lessen or remedy the lameness of a foot-sore horse, 
turpentine heated to the boiling point is poured into the sole of the foot. 
It can be held there for five minutes by binding a bandage around the 
foot so that the turpentine cannot run down over the hoof-head. The 
buyer may readily detect this trick, as the odor of turpentine gives it 
away when the hoof is examined. 

It also is alleged that the following treatment is given for muscle 
soreness, caused by use over hard stones: The night before he wishes 
to sell the horse affected in this way, the "gyp" dealer will pour gasoline 
over the withers, and let it flow down both shoulders and forearms. 
The gasoline contracts the capillaries and larger blood vessels and 
diminishes the blood pressure and nerve sensibility, thus allowing a 
nearly natural movement of the muscles. Of course as soon as the 
effect of the gasoline passes away the soreness will return. If gasoline 
were rubbed on the muscles it would probably result in a blister. 

Gingering a Show Horse. 

As a preparation for the show ring contest, or before exhibiting 
a horse to a prospective buyer, it is almost the general practise to insert 
ginger root in the animal's rectum that the irritation produced thereby 
may cause it to carry a high tail and show spirit and action. This 
trick is termed "figging." 

While this objectionable practise obtains most as regards coach 
and carriage horses, it is also followed by exhibitors and sellers of 
draft stallions and mares, and of recent years has been practised 
extensively. Indeed the trick is becoming far too common, and we have 
even seen it boldly and flagrantly practised in the judging ring to the 
disgust of all decent and fair-minded spectators. Possibly there may be 
some excuse for the practise as a means of setting a show or sale 
horse "on edge," but if allowed at all it should at least be done in 
private and be absolutely prohibited as a public act in the show ring. 
We sincerely trust that managers of horse shows will take this view 
of the matter; and officers of the humane societies should see to it that 
horses are not excessively tortured in this way. While the grooms of 
some horse exhibitors use ginger in the judging ring, others pay some 
regard to the rules of decency by backing the horsesi into their stalls 
before showing so that the trick may be practised unnoticed by the 
visitors who throng the aisles of the horse barns. We have heard of 
such a plan being followed when preparing the entire string of coach 
horses of one owner for the evening exhibit at a great horse show. 



HORSE SECRETS 



23 



Unnerving and Cocaining. 

Chxonic lameness is done away with by skilful obliteration of the 
large nerves which supply the affected parts with sensation. The 
operation is termed nerving or unnerving in common parlance and, 
properly, as neurectomy. It consists in cutting down upon the nerve 
and then removing a portion so that its function is destroyed so far 
as the portion below the seat of operation is concerned. Unnerving is 
most often done to hide the lameness caused by navicular disease which 
is incurable; it may also be practised on account of ringbone, sidebone, 
founder or other unsoundness of the foot. After unnerving, the horse 
does not evince pain when the parts below the seat of the operation are 
pinched or pricked. The operation merely does away with pain and 
lameness. It is in no way a cure. 

Stringhalt often is cured by peroneal tenotomy, which consists in 
the removal of a portion of a tendon under the hock joint. Scars of this 
operation and unnerving are always looked for by the expert examiner. 

Cocaine or eucaine solution injected by means of -a hypodermic 
syringe upon the nerves at the points where neurectomy would be 
performed will temporarily have an effect like that of the operation. 
Just after the injection a swollen or puffed place may be discovered at 
the point where the hypodermic needle was inserted, and local soreness 
may be present after the effects of the drug have subsided. 

Keep an Eye on the Sign Board. 

Dr. Hawley advises that when buying horses at auction one should 
watch the sign-board, as it may be suddenly shifted from "serviceably 
sound" to "wind and work." In such a case a horse slightly lame may 
be purchased with no chance of rejection. 

Secret of Hiding a Spavin. 

It is an old "gyp" trick to beat one hock-joint with a stick so that 
it will swell and acquire the same size as the hock unsound from spavin. 
Caustic solutions injected under the skin at the seat of spavin also 
smooth the appearance of the joint. 

If spavin is suspected, test for it by picking up the hind foot and 
holding it toward the stifle for two or three 
minutes so as to tightly shut the hock-joint. 
Then drop the foot and instantly have the 
horse trotted. If spavin, apparent or hidden 
(occult), is present the horse will hop off on 
three legs, or go much lamer than before. 




Artificially Induced Knee Action. 

True knee action is an inborn trait in 
certain horses, such as those of the English 
hackney breed, and some families of Ameri- 
can trotters; but in many high-stepping 
horses, sold on the market, such action is 
unnatural, and has been acquired The 
true knee actor ilexes his hocks about as freely as he does his knees 
This is the test: Watch a fashionable, high-going coacher, and if the 
action is not well balanced, and if the hind legs are imperfectly flexed 
and seem to have difficulty in "keeping up with the procession," depend 
upon It that the horse has been trained to go as he does and easily may 
forget his lessons on leaving school. 



"4 



HORSE SECRETS 



The "gyp" trick is to wet the hoof heads with turpentine, which sets 
up intense irritation and induces knee action. This is readily discovered 
by remembering to run the hands over the coronets when examining the 
horse, then noting if they smell of any drug. 

The horse trainer, on the other hand, develops high knee action by 
putting on heavy shoes, the toes being left long; by trotting and gallop- 
mg the horse in plowed land, deep snow, or a deep bed of straw. He 
also frequently taps the legs back of the knees with a whip or light stick 
as the horse takes daily walking exercise. Soon the animal learns the 
trick of high stepping, and thus is ready to match with one of like 
kind and gait, for sale at a high figure to some rich man in the city. 

A coach horse with extraordinary high knee action was sold by a 
dealer to a city man for $400. In a few days the buyer returned the 
horse, saying, "Sell him over again; you put him on me, now stick some 
one else with him." This horse had stringhalt in both forelegs which 
caused him to go high. 

In buying a coach or hackney stallion or mare for breeding pur- 
poses, see to it that the high action is natural and not acquired or 
due to chorea, else the tendency to step high will not be transmitted 
to the progeny. 

The Artificial Tail Trick. 

Where a horse is bought without careful examination of the tail, 
it may transpire when too late for redress that the switching appendage 
has been joined on. We remember examining a fine, thoroughbred 
running horse that was to be used for saddle purposes. Everything 
passed scrutiny until we came to the tail, 
which was that of some other horse, nicely 
held in place by clamps. When it was removed 
it was found that the horse under examination 
possessed a mere vestigal stump of a tail — 
a regular shaving brush affair — and on that 
account the deal, like the tail, was all oflf. 

Draft and work horses are often offered 
with the tail braided and tied up. Where this 
is the case, the intending buyer should let 
the tail down and then he may find that a 
big foreign switch has been braided in with 
the scant supply of natural hair. 

The critical examination of the tail will 
also save the prospective purchaser from 
acquiring an animal afflicted with pigment tumors (see page 47), or one 
that is about to lose a portion of the tail by gangrene, due to keepmg 
a cord too tightly and too long around the part when tied up in muddy 
weather, or while exposed for sale. 

Keeping a Horse "In the Air." 

The dealer tries to keep a horse "in the air" as much as possible 
when showing him to a prospective buyer, but the latter should be sure 
to examine the horse when he is "standing at ease." The object of 
keeping the horse rattled by cracking whips, shaking barn door latches, 
rattling a whip handle inside of a derby hat, whooping, yelling, and 
chasing behind him, is to make him appear spirited, or to hide some 
lameness. Often the horse so treated has a spavin, the laming effects of 
which disappear with exercise, and this also is true if the horse has 
navicular disease or chorea. 

This absurd treatment of the horse is customary in the selling of 
a heavy draft stallion that has been so fattened, pampered and drugged 




HORSE SECRETS 



25 



that he is practically asleep half the time, and has to be waked up by 
strenuous means to give him an appearance of life. A naturally acute 
and wide-awake horse needs little urging. 

Wedging a Cribber. 

Some dealers temporarily make a horse desist from cribbing by 
driving hard wood wedges between his front incisor teeth. Another old 
plan is to saw between the teeth. The soreness makes it painful for the 
horse to practise the habit of cribbing. Such a horse may be returned 
to the commission man, no matter how much time has elapsed since the 
purchase. The trick is difficult to discover unless the horse has cribbed 
long enough to render the appearance of the teeth suspicious. In the 
confirmed cribber the teeth are worn ofT or bevelled and usually have 
lost the marks. 

Another way of stopping a horse from cribbing is to blindfold the 
animal, place a block of wood on the incisor teeth and strike it with a 

mallet. By this cruel means the parts are 
made so sore that the horse temporarily 
stops catching hold of the manger to crib 
and suck wind. 

A highly recommended and far less 
severe method of preventing cribbing is to 
tie a %-inch cord to the ring on one side of 
the halter, then pass the free end under the 
upper lip, draw it fairly tight over the gums 
of the upper incisor teeth and tie to the 
other ring of the halter. C. W. Bolton, an 
old time farrier, says that a horse so treated 
"can eat just the same, but won't crib, for 
when he takes hold with the upper teeth 
the cord tightens and it hurts." 

The buyer should always, when pos- 
sible, see the horse in the stall prior to the show out. If he remembers 
this and moves quick enough he may see the horse wearing a strap 
buckled around his neck just back of the ears. Such a horse is a cribber 

and wind-sucker and the strap is put on 
to prevent the latter vice. 

Dr. N. S. Mayo, V. S., says that if a 
horse has worn a cribbing strap the con- 
tinued pressure upon the hair about the 
^- ;i/iu>ir/ \\ •?\ neck will make marks indicating that the 

'' mnn///,. W \\ strap has been used. As cribbing and 

windsucking may come from idleness, 
never let a horse remain a single day 
l\\f/ ""^^ _r idle in the stable. Work him daily, and 

when there is no work for him to do 
turn him out in the yard, paddock or 
field. "A very tired horse seldom cribs " 

Making an Artificial Star. 

It sometimes happens, or is claimed to have happened, that a pure- 
bred foal, registered in the stud book when young, is set down as 
having a star in its forehead, but which on attaining maturity shows 
no such mark. Sometimes in matching horses a difficulty is experi- 
enced when a perfect mate is found with the exception that a star 
is lacking. 

In such cases the horseman is occasionally more or less successtui 
in producing an artificial star. One plan suggested is to cut a boiling 





26 HORSE SECRETS 

hot potato in two and instantly apply the cut surface to the skin of 
the forehead. The scalding removes the hair and it comes in white, 
but a careful examination of such an artificial scar often will disclose a 
small pink, hairless spot in the center of the mark. The same tell-tale 
spot is seen where the artificial star has been produced by cauterizing 
with a red-hot iron or scalding with boiling water. Dr. N. S. Mayo, 
V. S., says that hot dough is also used. The discovery of an artificial 
star on the forehead of a stallion or mare sold as pure-bred and regis- 
tered is sufficient reason for making a careful investigation as to the 
identity of the animal and the integrity of the seller. 

An old book gives the following plan of making an artificial star: 
Take a piece of coarse tow-linen, the size of the wished-for star. 
Spread on it warm pitch, and apply it to the shaved spot; leave it on 
for two or three days, then wash with a smart water, or elixir of 
vitriol, two or three times a day until well. When the hair grows it 
will be white. 

The Loose Shoe Trick. 

When a horse is a poor mover, but stylish and likely to be a prize 
winner in the show ring, the owner tries to avoid putting him through 
his paces before the judges. A shoe is loosely tacked on, so that when 
the horse is trotted it comes oflf, and the owner then blames imperfection 
of motion to the loss of the shoe. 

We remember a case in the judging ring where a stallion vvith 
notoriously poor, flat, brittle hoofs was being trotted out for inspection 
by the awarding committee. At the first trot out, off flew a shoe, 
carrying with it a goodly portion of horny wall. "Too bad, too bad!" 
condoled the judge with the owner, who instantly replied, "Oh, that's 
all right; a horse with a foot like that will never miss it!" And the 
judge — a beginner — seemed to take it for granted that the foot was a 
specially good one, precisely as he was expected to do, and he gave the 
horse a prize, although he had not been properly shown out like his rivals. 

Wire Marks Over Side-Bones. 

Instances have been disclosed where gashes have purposely been cut 
with a knife on the hoof head just over a prominent side-bone so that 
when the wounds healed and left large scars the side-bones might be laid 
to a wire cut. This trick is mostly used in the case of a stallion that 
might, on account of a side-bone, be refused a license for public service 
in states where laws are in force for the supervision of the horse breed- 
ing industry. 

In Wisconsin, which was the first state to enact a stallion service law, 
we found large scars over side-bones on both fore feet of a pure-bred 
draft stallion. In another case, where a complaint was filed .to the effect 
that a stallion was unsound from side-bone, the owner claimed by letter 
that the side-bone was due to a calk wound. Examination by a veteri- 
narian disclosed the fact that the wound scar was over a side-bone on a 
hind foot, and there were two large side-bones on each fore foot and no 
scars on the latter. The state license of this horse was promptly cancelled 
for cause. 

Black Spots on a White Horse. 

An old veterinary book says: Take of powdered quicklime half a 
pound, and litharge four ounces. Beat well the litharge with the lime. 
The above is to be put into a vessel and a sharp lye is to be poured over 
it. This is the coloring matter* which must be applied to such parts of 
the animal as you wish to have dyed black. 



HORSE SECRETS 2J 

Broken Crest or Wrong Lying Mane. 

In certain gross, coarse-necked, heavy-maned plethoric draft stall- 
ions advancing in age it is not uncommon to find the crest broken 
over under the weight of the mane. Attempts are sometimes made by 
the owner or seller to offset this objectionable condition by braiding 
the mane and causing it to lie upon the side of the neck opposite the 
break by weighting wi*h flat strips of lead attached to the hair. If the 
crest breaks over to either side the mane may be roached. Weights 
may also be used in similar fashion to shed the mane of one horse of a 
pair so that it will lie on the proper side of the neck to make the team 
well matched and dressed. A broken crest is objectionable in a 
stallion as it indicates coarseness and grossness, a tendency to which 
is likely to be transmitted. The term broken crest is sometimes applied 
in the market to a horse affected with fistulous withers or scarred 
therefrom. 

Concealing Discharging Sinuses. 

It is not uncommon for a horse to have a fistula (opening or sinus) 
of a salivary duct. Where this is so there will be a discharge of saliva 
which appears as a limpid, transparent liquid oozing out or flowing in 
a stream. It is most profuse when the animal is eating and at that 
time may escape in jets. 

Such fistulx commonly involve Stenon's duct and are located on the 
side of the face or jaw. They are difficult to remedy, and the dealer 
resorts to the use of strong astringents and then plugs the opening;^ 
tightly with cotton temporarily to prevent escape of saliva until a 
sale has been effected. 

A fistula connecting with the root of a diseased molar and dis- 
charging pus through a sinus (pipe) the orifice of which is under the 
lower jaw, may be plugged in similar fashion, to be discovered later 
by the chagrined buyer. It also is possible temporarily to prevent 
escape of pus from small chronic fistulje or those resulting from poll- 
evil, fistulous withers or trephining of the bones of the face, or from 
the sinus sometimes found at the base of the ear and mentioned on 
page 29. Dr. N. S. Mayo, V. S., asserts that where a horse has a 
discharging fistula the dealer often trades him on a wet, rainy day, as 
the parts wetted by the discharge are thus not so likely to be noticed. 

The Galloping Past Dodge, 

Some horses roar loudly when going fast in harness, but are instantly 
quiet when action ceases. To prevent the detection of this unsoundness 
the seller, unless prevented from doing so by an experienced buyer, gallops 
the horse past the latter, and by tugging upon the lines, makes it appear 
that the animal is trying to run away or is difficult to control. The team 
is pulled up some distance away and by the time the buyer gets there the 
horse has resumed normal breathing. 

Dr. B. F. Holmes, V. S., says that it is not uncommon for the dealer 
to run the roaring horse in an old rickety wagon or hay rack which 
makes so much racket that the noise made by the horse cannot be heard. 

The better way to test the horse's wind is to lock the rear wheels of 
a wagon by thrusting a strong stick between the spokes from one wheel to 
the other; then make the horses pull the wagon at a run and be at their 
heads the moment they stop. Such horses may not be true roarers, but 
mechanical chokers with thick, bull necks or enlarged throat glands. 
These are practically sound and only roar when pulling a heavy load up 
hill or on getting the chin down close to the chest. 



28 HORSE SECRETS 

Keeping a Horse on Edge. 

A horseman of the old school writes : "When dealers have had a 
horse some time in their stables, they exercise him with a whip two or 
three times a day, so that when a 'chapman' goes to look at him, they 
have only to stir their hand with the whip in it. Under such conditions 
it is hard to say whether the horse, fearful of a drubbing, is lame or not, 
and a good judge may be deceived." 

in another place he says : "A horse that goes with his fore feet low 
is very apt to stumble and there are some that go so near the ground that 
they stumble most on even road, and the dealers, to remedy this, put 
heavy shoes on their feet, for the heavier a horse's shoes are, the higher 
he will lift his feet." 

"An Eye for An Eye." 

The buyer should have a keen look out for the eye of the horse; 
otherwise he may easily make sad mistakes in the market. 

The pupil of the eye should contract when the horse comes out into 
the light. If it does not, the eye is blind, or at least unsound. Such 
eyes have an unnatural appearance which should attract the attention of 
the alert examiner, but he will be very apt to overlook the blindness if 
the horse is led out into the bright sunshine. Where a horse has recently 
become blind from periodic ophthalmia (moon blindness), he may still be 
able to detect a bright light, and so when exposed to sunshine, may throw 
up his head and look directly at the sun. This act makes the examiner 
liable to consider the eyes sound. 

Dr. George P. Frost, V. S., Chicago, advises that when examining 
a horse's eyes the examiner should close his hand, leaving the index 
finger extended and with this finger threaten to poke the eye. He says : 
"Thrust your finger at the eye; if the sight is impaired the horse will 
not close his eyelids until your finger almost touches the eyeball. Do not 
make the test with the open hand, as the air current caused by your open 
hand will cause the horse to close his eyelids while your finger is still 
some distance from the eye." It should be remembered too, that even 
when a horse is stone blind he will instantly close the eyelids if the 
fingers touch the long hairs (feelers or tentacles) on the cheek just 
under the eye. 

Periodic ophthalmia, as suggested by the term, comes on at intervals, 
but eventually after repeated attacks ends in blindness of one or both eyes 

A horse that has had a few attacks, causing a slight opacity of the 
cornea (scum), is a favorite with the scalper, as he can be bought cheap, 
treated for the temporary clearing up of the eyes, and sold at a profit 
to an unwary buyer. The disease is incurable, and its presence is to be 
suspected when the eyebrow appears triangular and wrinkled, and the eye 
looks smaller than its mate or a healthy eye, and is retracted into 
the orbit. 

Not infrequently horses are blind from amaurosis (glass eye). The 
eye to the novice looks sound, is clear, bright, wide open and naturally 
prominent, but an expert sees the pupil round and fully dilated, and on 
further test is found to be blind. 

Unscrupulous buyers sometimes render a horse temporarily blind by 
chewing whole flaxseed to a pulp and smearing it in the eye. By washing 
a cloudy, sticky-looking eyeball, this trick is readily discovered. 

A horse may also be rendered temporarily blind by the administration 
of certain drugs. 

The clearing-up process of treating a blue-eyed or moon-blind horse 
also is effected by skilful use of such drugs as atropia, belladonna, 
eserine, nitrate of mercury ointment, bloodroot, alum, calomel, etc. 
Their effect is transitory, and the horse soon has an unmistakable attack 
•of ophthalmia. 



HORSE SECRETS 



Examine the Ears. 



^9 



It will be well to "put a flea in the ear" of the man who contem- 
plates buying a horse and who may not know that the ear will bear 
investigation. If the animal will not submit to inspection, look out I The 
horse that will not allow one to handle his ears, or fights when the attempt 
is made, may be a terror to shoe, and therefore has had the "twitch" put 
on his ear many a time in the blacksmith's shop; or he may have had 
poll-evil, some injury to the ear, or head, or have a disease present 
which makes the ear sore or sensitive. A horse so afifected is difficult 
to handle, as he fights when the halter or bridle is put on. If a horse 
makes no objection to having one's finger thrust into his ear, it is safe 
to suspect that he may be a dummy (see glossary). 

Sometimes a fine silken thread may be found running under the 
forelock from ear to ear to prevent them from loppine over. 

Or there may be a leaden bullet suspended by a silk thread in the 
hollow of the ear to prevent its constant motion. Sometimes the 
motion indicates impaired sight or nervousness, whereas the lack of 
it may indicate deafness. "Gyps" sometimes pack cotton batting into 
the ears to quiet a horse that is easily frightened by noises. 

Then, too, we sometimes find at the base ot the ear a ctironic, almost 
incurable fistulous opening and tract connecting with the bursa mucosa, 
constantly discharging a substance like liquid vaseline, which daubs 
and mats the hair, giving the part an untidy, filthy appearance. 

Besides this, temporarily stitched and glued split ears, chronic 
eczema and warts may be looked for and avoided. It is more difficult 
to find ear ticks, such as are met with in southwestern states, but when 
present they cause great irritation and may make a horse fractious. 

Bishoping, an Old Trick. 

John C. Kncwlson,* an old farrier, writing in 1850, says: "Horse 
dealers have a trick of knocking out the nook teeth at three years and 
a half, to make a horse appear five years old when only four; but they 
cannot raise the tusks. At six years old the nook teeth are a little 
hollow, and at seven there is a black mark, like the end of a ripe 
bean. Afterwards you will observe the flesh shrink from the teeth, 
which grow long and yellow. Horse dealers have also a method which 
they call Bishoping a horse's mouth; that is, filing the tusks shorter, 
rounding them at the ends, taking a little out of the nook teeth, so as 
to make them rather hollow, and then burning them with a hot iron 
I was hired by Anthony Johnson, of Wincolmlee, Hull, as farrier to a 
number of horses that were going to the city of Moscow, in Russia, for 
sale, and we had a little gray horse, called Peatum, that was seventeen 
years old, the mouth of which I bishoped, and he passed for six year'- 
old, and was the first horse sold, and for £500 English money! I onlv 
mention this as a caution to horse buyers." 

How Bishoping is Done. 

Bishoping is dental forgery, false marks being made on the incisor 
teeth to make an old horse appear young. It is a dishonest practise and 
not to be countenanced for a moment by a reputable horseman. The 
modus operandi of the business is told as follows in a well-known 
book: Renewal of the cups (bishoping) is the most important of the 
artificial attempts to make horses appear younger, and if per- 
formed intelligently upon horses that are not too old, together 
with the shortening and polishing of the crowns of the superior incisors, 
may deceive even the vaunted expert. The operation consists of cutting 

(♦See note on page 46, relating to "An Old Operation for Spavin") 



30 HORSE SECRETS 

large cups in the inferior corners, smaller ones in the laterals and mere 
dots in the centrals and then staining them with silver nitrate. The 
cupping process is performed with an engraver's gouge, and a revolving 
hand drill, or by the modern ingenious implement in vogue in the 
Chicago market, consisting of the foot engine used by human dentists, 
equipped with a circular cutting wheel, by which cups of perfectly 
normal shape and size can be made. The horse is backed into a smgle 
stall and secured in a dental halter. An assistant works the dental 
engine with the foot. The operator holding the hand piece of the 
flexible shaft in the right hand and the jaw in the other, cuts first a 
large elliptical cup, with sharp commissures, in the table of the corner 
incisors, then smaller ones in the laterals and small dots in the cen- 
trals. As the wheel revolves with great velocity, the cupping is the 
work of but a moment, if the horse stands complacently. When the 
corner tooth has but a small table it is enlarged by filing and the cup 
is cut across its entire length. The cup in the corners is frequently 
made with a rounded belly internally and a sharp commissure externally 
to give a more confusing if not a more natural appearance. When the 
cupping process is complete, the arcade is dried and kept free from 
saliva by wrapping the jaw behind the teeth with a cloth or towel. 
The cups are then stained by applying a saturated solution of silver 
nitrate with a stick and then drying it immediately by plunging the head 
of a burning match into it. The drying process immediately blackens 
the cavity. If the stain flows over the table of the tooth it is filed off. 
Shortening, polishing, cupping and staining the incisor teeth of a 
nine or ten-year-old horse may be so cleverly performed that the most 
circumspect study of the mouth may fail to detect the alteration. In 
these cases the cupping is limited to the removal of the crusta petrosa 
within the infundibula, thus leaving the cup with a perfect enamel 
boundary. At that age the other retrogressive changes are not pro- 
nounced, and afford but little evidence to guide the diagnostician. 
When horses are past the age of twelve years the results of these 
operations are easily detected by the interrupted contact of the incisor 
arcades (rows of teeth) and especially by the angle of inclination, 
which is never altered by any natural process and which cannot be 
artificially changed. The shape of the tables and the absence of enamel 
around the cup will also lead readily to detection of the fraudulent 
attempts to make very old horses appear younger." 



30RSE SECRETS 



31 



Miscellaneous Secrets. 



) The Widow Trick. 

Some years since it was common to find cunningly worded horse- 
sale advertisements in the daily newspapers, offering seemingly valuable 
annuals at sacrifice prices. In some of these advertisements it was 
stated that a widow about to leave for Europe, where she hoped to be 
able to assuage the grief of her recent bereavement, would sell her 
favorite carriage horse, provided she could be assured of a good home 
arid kind treatment for the highly esteemed animal. In reality the 
widow was a myth and the valuable horse a good looking but worthless 
"robber." 

The scheme was craftily carried out, and many a man from the 
country fell a dupe to the wiles of the "widow" and her confederates. 
On going to the address mentioned in the advertisement, the pros- 
pective buyer would find a large stable in the rear of a fine old- 
fashioned mansion on one of the outlying boulevards or avenues. Here 
in charge of a glib-tongued coachman, usually a colored man, would 
be found several finely groomed horses standing knee deep in the finest 
of wheat straw bedding and surrounded by every appointment of a swell 
private stable. Opening negotiations with the groom, the buyer would 
hear one of the most plausible and pleasing tales imaginable elaborative 
of a similar, condensed story told in the glowing advertisement that 
had induced the visit. The filly or gelding would be described as bred 
irt the purple, by AUerton, out of Kentucky Queen, she by a Pilot, 
Jr., or some such combination of standard blood, possessed of great 
speed, having done halves in 1.08, a final quarter in 34 seconds, and the 
half "would have been as good as 1.06% had the track 'near the pole' 
not been heavy from a recent rain." When the purchaser had become 
interested, but not sufficiently so to agree to a somewhat steep price, 
the "widow" dressed in deepest mourning and heavily veiled would 
opportunely appear upon the scene, do the weeping act and manage 
matters so adroitly that soon a bargain would be struck at a handsome 
figure. 

Sometimes a "Colonel" or a "General" or a "Judge" would take 
the place of the "widow," the man posing as that character being 
suitably dressed for the part, commanding in appearance, and so 
plausible and polished in address as to disarm all suspicion. During the 
preliminary negotiations between the groom and the buyer, the "Gen- 
eral" would be conveniently stationed in the hay-loft overhead and 
would be summoned by electric bell when wanted, the "sucker" mean- 
while being taken into the alley to see the horse go through his paces. 

Needless to say that the buyer on getting the horse home and 
trying him out quickly rued his bargain, and equally unnecessary to say 
that when he went back to the swell stable for redress he found the 
place abandoned and was wholly unable to locate the men who had 
perpetrated the swindle. 

This, method of fleecing the unwary buyer is still in vogue but far 
less common than was the case before the advent of the automobile. 
Still it will be well to take glowing horse-sale advertisements with a 
large grain of_ salt, and better still to purchase a horse through some 
reliable commission man or dealer. 



32 HORSE SECRETS 

A Horse That Was Right There. 

A New Hampshire horse dealer was "burned" by trading for a 
horse that would work anywhere and pull strongly except when he 
came to the foot of a hill; there he would balk and refuse to pull a 
pound. After he had kept the horse about a month a stranger came 
along and was "taken in." The horse looked well and a trade was 
made for another horse and considerable "boot." The buyer asked the 
dealer if the horse was a good worker and was told, "You bet! He will 
work any place you put him and when you come to the foot of a hill 
I tell you he's right there!" 

So the buyer discovered, and on complaining bitterly to the dealer 
was reminded of his honesty and candor in stating that at the foot of a 
hill he would always be right there. No doubt he paid more particular 
attention to the plausible talk of the dealer the next time he had 
occasion to "dicker" for a "hoss." 

An Honest "Hoss" Dealer. 

There lived in Michigan a shrewd old horse dealer who gave folks 
due warning to beware when he donned his selling clothes. He used to 
say: "When I say, 'Hoss,' — look out! I'm a-goin' to trade. But when 
it's 'Horse,' — nawthin' doin! Ye're perfectly safe." 

It is related that this character had a balky horse put on him by 
brother dealers in a neighboring town ; but a few days later he got even, 
and with the same "hoss." The former owners failed to recognize the 
beast, for in the interim it had been clipped, reached, docked and bishoped, 
besides receiving a few artistic spots of dye, and having had "tug marks" 
and "collar galls" manufactured by skilful shaving at the right places. 
In his new fix he looked a young, handsome, hard-working animal, but 
when the deal was made and the new owners hitched him up, they realized 
at once that both they and the horse were "stuck." 

A Sharper's Smooth Sayings. 

Elsewhere we have told of a balker that "was right there at the foot 
of a hill" or that would "stand without hitching." The scalper and crafty 
dealer use many catchy phrases of this sort, and they fool the buyer 
unless he has sharp ears and quick comprehension. 

A few additional catch sayings may prove of interest : A dealer 
having a horse with defective eyesight fitted him out with close blinkers 
and said to the buyer, "He doesn't look very well." Another said of a 
heavey horse, "If he ain't windy you needn't take him." 

Again, as to looks, and ability in harness, one said, "If he don't suit 
you in harness you can take it ofif," and again, "Single I bought him; 
double I broke him myself," or, "If you don't like him you needn't keep 
him," meaning that the "stung" buyer has the privilege of sticking some 
other victim with the horse. 

Some of the dealers are wits and most of them have quaint expres- 
sions and sayings. The following sample will suffice: A dealer was seen 
exercising a horse so badly foundered in his hind feet that he not only 
walked on his heels, but stood with his fore and hind feet almost on the 
same spot under his body. "Say! What are you goin' to do with that 
critter !" asked a bystander, and like a flash came the answer, "Take him 
to Indiana to tramp sourkraut in a barrel." 

Dr. James Robertson, V. S., tells us that a filly was sold with the 
promise that she could "keep company with Blue Ribbon and some of 
the fastest ones on the side drive." She did, but she generally was 
going one way while they were coming back the other ! 



HURSE SECRETS 



33 



The Winter Board Trick. 

A farmer read an advertisement in a city paper asking for a 
winter home and board for two family horses that the owner desired to 
leave comfortably provided for in the country during his absence in 
Europe. The farmer went to the city to investigate and found a fine pair 
of horses in a swell stable. Soon a bargain, profitable to the farmer, was 
arranged at a specified rate per week for board, stabling and care during 
the winter, but as the pleased stranger was about to leave for home, 
the stableman said, "Here, you are a stranger to me, and therefore you 
ought to put up some security for having such a valuable pair of horses 
in your care." After some discussion, the farmer was induced to deposit 
$100 as security, and went home, congratulating himself upon the good 
winter's profit he would have in looking after the horses which were to be 
shipped to him by train the following day. In due course, two horses 
arrived, but they were old "plugs," worth perhaps $s a piece. The 
swindle cost the farmer $go and his expenses, for when he went to the city 
to hunt up the sharper, he found the stable in the same old place, but the 
bird had flown, and no one could tell him where. 



How Horses Catch Cold. 

An old time farrier wisely says: "Many farmers and tradesrnen 
get too much drink when they go to market, and then set off home, riding 
like madmen, and calling at some public house on the road to get more 
of the soul and body destroying evil, leave their horses to stand sweating 
at the door, where it is no wonder that they get cold. Wagoners, 
carters and coal carriers are also often guilty of this abominable 
practise." 

Tricks in Measuring Horses. 

It is often important to have a horse not less than some given height, 
and great care has to be taken in making the necessary measurement with 
the "hand stick" (hippometer). If the horse is under or over the desired 

height the dealer may irritate the animal 
so that an exact measurement is diffi- 
cult or impossible to make. 

If the horse is undersized the dealer 
will try to stand him with the hind feet 
low. In the stable or yard everything 
is prepared so that this may be easily 
done. Another plan is to put on abnor- 
mally thick shoes, or those having 
calkins; the animal's head is kept 
lowered so that the withers will be 
correspondingly heightened. Opposite 
methods are practised when a horse is a trifle too high for show-yard 
requirements or mating, and such tricks have given buyers of horses for 
the army no end of trouble. 

When a horse is to be measured stand him on a level floor and then 
see that the measuring is honestly done. 




The Twitch and Cording Trick. 

A "twitch" is a loop of strong cord attached to a stick, placed 
around the upper lip and twisted tight to control a vicious or nervous 
horse at time of shoeing or when an operation has to be performed. 
Sometimes it is brutually applied to the ear or even the tongue. Cases 



34 HORSE SECRETS 

are quoted where dealers have temporarily subdued and rendered docile, 
intractable or vicious horses at time of sale by use of a small twitch 
supported behind one of the branches of the bit, or attached to the 
side of the bridle or the h.ilter. Such things should be looked for by 
the buyer, who may also find that the horse is "corded" to make him 
step high. In the latter case a small, strong cord is looped and the 
ends tied together. One end is then looped over the bar bit and the 
other end or loop placed over the upper incisor teeth under the lip and 
made tight enough to stay there. 

The Secret Formula Swindle. 

The farmer or stockman who buys the formula of a "magic cure" 
from some stranger most likely will find his acquisition a "gold brick." 
A gyp horse dealer sold a "sure cure" heave receipt to an Indiana farmer 
for $25. It proved to be made of crude gypsum ("land plaster") 
flavored with a little capsicum and ground ginger root. The horse was to 
receive a tablespoonful night and morning for two or three weeks. 
Such a concoction might possibly relieve some of the severest symptoms 
of heaves, which is an incurable disease, but was of course not worth 
a fraction of the price charged. 

It is astonishing what cheap ingredients find their way into condition 
powders, worm powders and stock foods. We knew of a quack who 
combined fine sifted sand from the shore of Lake Michigan with the 
wood ashes of his stove and a dash of fenugreek and sold the mixture 
at fifty cents a pound under a high sounding name. We have found fine 
sand to be the chief ingredient of an alleged sovereign worm remedy 
for lambs. The lambs died despite or, mayhap, by reason of its adrnin- 
istration. A sheep feeder who uses large quantities of wheat screenings 
annually told us that when he was buying his supply of this feed the 
miller mentioned incidentally that he had recently sold some two 
thousand tons of screenings to a manufacturer of a stock food. Such 
stuff makes a cheap "filler," but is it a useful or safe "condimental" food 
for animals? We trow not! Anyhow the sheep feeder lost a lot of 
sheep from poisoning by corncockle seed present in the screenings. 

We remember a formula faker who went the rounds of livery 
barns and private stables some years ago. He used a liquid which 
by light rubbing almost instantly appeared to plate afresh the rusty or 
tarnished metal trimmings of harness. He sold the formula to a 
liveryman for $5, and at his request we compounded the concoction, 
which comprised a number of mineral salts, including nickel. But the 
mixture wouldn't work! The formula read well, but was a fake. The 
fluid used by the faker doubtless was merely some strong acid which 
instantly "cleaned" the metal trimmings of the harness. As a general 
rule it is safest to steer clear of all formulas advertised or peddled for 
sale. 

Fooling the Expert Judge. 

Many instances might be cited where slick horse showmen have 
fooled the experienced and wary judge. One of these is told on page 26 
A new one is reported by Mr. R. P. Stericker, the noted judge of 
harness and draft horses. He says that a "dealer" was showing a horse 
as a gelding and the judge noticed nothing to make him suspect that 
the animal was a stallion. This was the fact, however, but it had been 
hidden temporarily by a light application of a red hot iron to the 
scrotum before the horse entered the ring. This trick was told against 
the judge as a "good one" at a dinner ten years later. 

This story reminds us of a report to the effect that a certain show- 
man having a splendid ridgling drafter which he wished to show in the 



HORSE SECRETS 35 

stallion class at a forthcoming fair asked a skilful operator to make 
incisions and insert imitation testicles made of silver so that they would 
naturally fill the scrotum and make the horse presentable in the arena. 
There is no record that the trick was successfully consummated. 

A M&gic Cure for Cramps. 

Horses like people suffer from "needles and pins," numbness and 
cramps in their limbs. The muscles of a hind leg temporarily may lose 
sensation and become rigid so that the leg cannot be moved. The 
horse stands "anchored" in his stall. The owner knows not what to do 
and some wise, experienced charlatan perchance is called Quickly 
arriving at a correct diagnosis he dilates upon the terrible seriousness 
of the really simple conditions present, loudly lauds the wonderful 
virtues of his "Electric" or "Magic" liniment and persuades the fright- 
ened owner into agreeing to pay a fee of $I0 for a cure. This done 
the farrier's coat comes off, his sleeves are rolled up and the liniment 
rubbed in with many a pinch and slap. It smarts. The blood begins 
to circulate. The horse sweats, paws, kicks and a few sharp cuts of the 
quack's whip complete the "cure." Ten to one the whip applied or 
even cracked to scare the horse would have turned the trick. The 
empiric imposed upon the ignorance of the owner; but the "cure" was 
accomplished according to contract and there is no recourse. 

Color Secrets. 

'Few foals," writes Mr. J. H. S. Johnstone, "are born the same 
color they display when fully matured horses. Only albinos are foaled 
pure white. The ordinary white horse of the street or country road is 
never dropped that color. Most men intimately connected with horses 
have never seen a pure white foal. Piebalds and skewbalds are born 
parti-colored. White markings are white at birth and do not grow 
on horses, save perhaps in the extension of a strip in face to meet a 
snip, and then the change is very slight. 

Grey horses are foaled black. Black horses come a rusty brown, 
as do some red roans and blue roans. It is often hard to tell from the 
birth hue whether a foal will be bay, sorrel or chestnut. There is 
frequently the same difificulty in distinguishing between foals that will 
eventually be brown or dark dun (or clay-bank). Cream-colored foals 
are usually, though not always, born that shade, sometimes a dirty dun, 
shedding oflf lighter. Quite often it is impossible to tell whether a foal 
is going to be grey or black from the hue when dropped. Though 
the foal may have all the appearance of promising to be black, a few 
white hairs may present themselves at the first shedding off. When this 
is seen, it is practically certain that at four or five the animal will be a 
grey. In this way mistakes in registering have often been unwittingly 
made, when the rules required the recording of young animals. Red and 
blue-roan horses often turn white with advancing age. Pintos or 
'paints' — spotted horses common in the range country — are supposed 
to owe their parti-color to albinism close up somewhere in their lineage. 

The spotted, parti-colored, skebald, or 'calico' horses, seen in aH 
circus outfits, are for the most part erroneously called 'Arabians.' 
A pure-bred Arab horse, spotted or otherwise parti-colored, has never 
been known to exist. Indeed the Arabian is the only so-called pure 
breed of horses that, so far as is known, never produced a parti-colored 
animal. Therefore if a horse is parti-colored there is no possibility of 
his being at the same time a pure-bred Arabian, despite any claim that 
may be made to the contrary. The commonest color among pure 
.'\rabian horses is grey, followed in order by bay, chestnut, brown and 
black, few browns and blacks being in evidence. 



^t HORSE SECRETS 

It is believed that little is done by dishonest horse dealers in 
changing the color of horses, but such practises have been known. 

A strong infusion of black walnuts, the nuts being gathered just 
as the shucks are about to break open, shuck and all being infused, will 
color white markings on horses almost any bay or brown shade desired, 
according to the strength of the infusion and the frequency of applica- 
tion. An admixture of henna tea is used to simulate dark chestnut." 

Training a Trick Mule. 

A trick mule — "!Maud" is generally the name — is almost always an 
integral part of every circus. ''Come along,- gentlemen, we will give a 
dollar a minute for every minute you ride this mule." Thereon sundry 
rough looking individuals present themselves at the ringside and one 
after the other attempts to ride the mule, which is adorned by a halter 
only. These individuals are thrown in turn and perchance some bona 
fide aspirant tries his luck, only to fare far worse. 

The training of such a mule is based on the fact that most people 
in essaying to mount will place the left hand on the withers or neck. 
The first thing then to be done in the educating process is to use a 
spiked glove on the left hand of the operator. Naturally the mule bucks 
away from the prods so received, and it is not long before it becomes 
adept at putting down all who try to mount it. The outstretched left 
hand is the signal to jump and pitch. Some mules get so vicious that 
they can hardly be ridden at all, while others learn so that they will 
submit to being mounted peaceably by the clown or other known person 
who approaches them with an awkward but recognized movement, 
keeping the hand always from the withers or top of the neck. Any one 
who owns a small mule can educate it so that in a short time he can 
have a barrel of fun with the neighbor boys. 



HORSE SECRETS 37 



Secrets About Stallion Selling. 



Palming Off a Grade Stallion on a Company. 

Despite the fact that recognition is not given to several stud book 
■ societies by the Stallion Registration Boards of the various states, 
their publishers still issue registry certificates which are practically 
worthless. Grade stallions can be registered in some of these non- 
standard books, the liberal registration fee being the principal object 
of their publication, and the registry certificates have the appearance 
of authenticity. This being so they are often used by stallion peddlers 
in victimizing the unwary buyer, who might easily ascertain the true 
worth of the papers offered, by sending them for examination to the 
secretary of the Stallion Registration Board of his state, or asking that 
official to give his opinion relative to the reliability of the stud book 
association involved. 

As an example of the dishonest purpose to which such bogus 
certificates of registry are put, it is stated by the secretary of the 
Department of Horse Breeding, of the College of Agriculture, of the 
University of Wisconsin, that a stallion whose sire was said by the 
owner to be "Middleton II.," and out of a dam of part Morgan 
blood, was given a grade license certificate by the Department. 
Some time later the horse changed hands and the buyer, who was 
an experienced organizer of stallion companies, had him recorded in 
a bogus stud book which issues a handsome gold-sealed registry 
certificate. On this the stallion was given an entirely new and wholly 
false pedigree, the sire being set forth as "Grove Revenue," and the 
dam as a well-bred Shire. On the strength of this attractive registry 
certificate of notable ancestry, and the help of a few confederates, the 
stallion was sold to a company of hard-working farmers in one of the 
northern counties of the state for $1,800, in shares of $75 each. Some 
of the notes were discounted and the peddler disappeared, but now 
the matter is in the courts, as the Department of Horse Breeding 
discovered the swindle and put the company "wise." (Later, the 
farmers won their suit. — Editor.) 

Another case has been discovered where a grade stallion was sold 
for a good price as pure-bred, on the strength of a registry certifi- 
cate from the stud book alluded to, and "imported" according to the 
statement of the peddler. The owner in this case also learned too 
late that he had fallen a victim to sharpers, and will now seek redress 
in the courts. 

Many similar cases could be cited and they serve to show the 
importance of studying the registry certificate furnished with the horse 
and making sure that it was issued by a stud book association recog- 
nized by the Stallion Registration Boards. 

Secretaries of State Stallion Registration Boards. 

If in doubt relative to the authenticity of a stallion registry certifi- 
cate, the prospective purchaser may send it to any one of the 
following secretaries, or tell him the name of the seller and the name 
of the stud book that issued the registry certificate, and will be cheer- 



38 HORSE SECRETS 

fully advised whether or not the papers are correct, honest and legal. 
The inquiry, so far as possible, should be sent to the secretary of the 
Board of the state in which the inquirer lives. 

California — Secretary, George Robertson, Stallion Registration 
Board, Sacramento, Cal. 

Colorado — Secretary, James B. Pearce, Secretary of Stale. Denver, 
Colo. 

Idaho — Secretary, Dr. G. E. Noble. Boise, Idaho. 

Illinois — Secretary, J. K. Dickirson, Springfield, 111. 

Indiana — Secretary, Prof. D. O. Thompson, Lafayette, Iml 

Iowa — Secretary, A. R. Corey, Des Moines, la. 

Kansas — Secretary, Dr. C. W. McCampbell, Manhattan, Kan 

Michigan — Secretary, State Veterinary Board, Lansing, Mich. 

Minnesota — Secretary, Joseph S. Montgomery, Universitv Farm, 
St. Paul, Minn. 

Nebraska — Secretary, W. R. Mellor, Lincoln, Neb. 

North Dakota — Secretary, Prof. W. B. Richards, Fargo, N. D, 

Oregon — Secretary, Prof. E. L. Potter, Corvalis, Ore. 

Pennsylvania — Secretary, Dr. Carl W. Gay, University of Pennsyl- 
vania, Philadelphia, Pa. 

South Dakota — Secretary, Prof. James E. Wilson, Brookings, S, D. 

Utah — Secretary, Prof. John T. Caine, Logan, LTtah. 

Washington — Secretary, Stallion Registration Board, Pullman, 
Wash. 

Wiscon.=;in — Secretary, Dr. .A.. S. Alexander, Madison, Wis. 

Stud Books Recognized as Reliable 

The Department of Agriculture, Washmgton, D. C., at one time 
certified reliable stud book associations to the secretary of the treasury, 
for his information in dealing with pure-bred horses offered at tfie 
ports of entry for free importation for breeding purposes. Such 
"certification" of American books of record was discontinued in 1910, 
since which time only the foreign books of record have been certified. 
The various Stallion Registration Boards, for the most part, continue 
to "recognize" as standard the original list of stud books certified to 
by the Department of Agriculture, and still refuse to accept the 
registry certificates of those stud books not previously "certified." A 
few changes have been made, in several states, such as those noted 
in Wisconsin, and can be learned on application to the secretary in 
charge of stallion registration work in any particular state. The 
following list of recognized stud books is practically correct, with 
the exception just mentioned: 

American Association of Importers and Breeders of Belgian Draft 
Horses — J. D. Conner, Jr., Wabash, Ind., Secretary. 

American Breeders' Association of Jacks and Jennets — J. W. 
Jones, Columbia, Tenn., Secretary. 

American Breeders' and Importers' Percheron Registry — John A. 
Forney, Plainfield, O., Secretary. (Not recognized in Wisconsin.) 

American Clydesdale Association — R. B. Ogilvie, Union Stock 
Yards, Chicago, 111, Secretary. 

American Hackney Horse Society — Gurney C. Gue, 308 West 97th 
St., New York, N. Y., Secretary. 

American Morgan Horse Register — T. E. Boyce, Middlebury. Vt., 
Secretary. 

American Saddle Horse Breeders' Association — I. B. Nail, Louis- 
ville, Ky., Secretary. 

American Shetland Pony Club — Miss J. M. Wade, Lafayette, Ind,, 
Secretary. 



HORSE SECRETS 39 

American Shire Horse Breeders' Association— Charles Burgess, 
Wenona, 111., Secretary. 

American Stud Book (Thoroughbreds)— W. H. Rowe, New York, 
N. Y., Secretary. 

American Trotting Register Co.— Wm. H. Knight, 355 Dearborn 
St., Chicago, 111., Secretary. 

American Suffolk Horse Association— Ale.xander Galbraith. De 
Kalb, III., Secretary. 

Arabian Horse Club of America— H. K. Bush-Brown, Newburgh 
N. Y., Secretary. (Not recognized in all states.) 

Cleveland Bay Society of America.— R. P. Stericker. Aurora, 111. 
Secretary. 

_ French Coach Horse Society of America— Duncan E. Willett, Oak 
Park, 111., Secretary. 

German, Hanovarian and Oldenburg Coach Horse Breeders 
Association— J. Crouch, Lafayette, Ind., Secretary. 

National French Draft Horse .Association- C. E. Stubbs, Fairfield 
la.. Secretary. 

Percheron Society of America— Wayne Dinsmore, Union Stock 
Yards, Chicago, 111., Secretary. 

Welsh Pony and Cob Society of America— George E. Brown 
Aurora, 111., Secretary. 

Stud Books Not Recognized by Registration Boards. 

The following registry books are not at the date of this writing 
Nov. I, 1910, certified by the Department of Agriculture, Washington] 

American Horse Breeders' Trotting Registry Association, 161 High 
St., Boston, Mass. 

American Horse Registry Association— N. J. Harris, Des Moines 
la., Secretary. 

American Iceland Pony Club— Geo. H. Simpson, Wheaton, 111 
Secretary. 

American Percheron Registry Association— S. M. Heberling, La 
Grange, 111., Secretary. 

Belgian-American Draft Horse Association— A. J. Meyers, Loving- 
ton, 111., Secretary. 

Coach and Draft Horse Association of America— Frederick Wight- 
man, La Crosse, Wis. 

Hartman Stock Farm Registry Record Co.— Adam Krumm, Colum- 
bus, O., Secretary. 

International Consolidated Record Association— H. A. Jones Penn 
Yan, N. Y., Secretary. 

Morrison's International Roadster Register,— Des Moines, la. 
National Percheron Horse Breeders' Association— W. E. Phdlips, 
Secretary. 

The American Jack Register— W. L. De Clow, Cedar Rapids, la. 

The National Standard Pacing and Trotting Horse Breeders' Asso- 
ciation— Thos. C. Parsons, 1023-5 Williamson Buildmg, Cleveland, O., 
Registrar. 

The Standard Jack and Jennet Registry of America— Kansas City. 

Mo. (Now recognized in Wisconsin, as provided bv a legislative 
amendment to the stallion law in 1913.) 



40 HORSE SECRETS 

Story of a Company Stallion Deal. 

"Farm, Stock and Home," some years ago publislied the following 
tale of a fraudulent stallion sale : 

"A few j'ears ago a suit for the payment of fraudulently obtained 
notes for the purchase of a stallion was thrown out of court by Judge 
Garland, of Sioux Falls, South Dal<ota, for want of equity. A trans- 
cript of the evidence shows that there were the best of reasons for the 
Judge's action. 

"It was alleged by the defendants, a number of farmers, that their 
names were secured in a book, by reason of representations made by 
an agent of the horse importer that they were signing a call for a 
meeting of farmers to consider the matter of buying a stallion for 
$5,000, and that when twenty names were secured a meeting would be 
called. 

"The names were secured and the meeting called, but instead of 
being asked to consider the matter of buying the horse, the signers 
were informed that they had already agreed to buy the horse and 
jointly and severally pay $5,000 for him in four equal yearly payments, 
the first payment to be in two years, with six per cent, interest on all 
payments. In a proof of this it was shown that a brief contract in 
small type was printed at the top of the page of the book in which 
the names were signed which bound the signers as alleged. Upon this 
revelation the meeting became the opposite of one called to consider 
the purchase of the horse, as may be readily imagined. 

"The evidence shows that the defendants either did not know 
there was any printing matter on the page they signed, or if they did 
see it did not read it, and were told by the agent that it had nothing 
to do with the matter under consideration, or to be exact, one farmer 
testified: T looked the thing over; I noticed the contract at the head 
of it and I asked what that fine print was there. He (the agent) said 
that it was an Iowa contract and did not cut any figure in this State.' 
Another explanation was testified to by another witness, quoted further 
on. Some witnesses testified that a broad rubber band or a turned leaf 
concealed the contract. The agent testified that he did not call any of 
the defendants' attention to the contract, didn't know if they saw it. 
but 'supposed they did, for they had the book in their hands.' 

"All the defendants testified that they would not have signed the 
book if they had known the contract was there. Regarding the matter 
of what the meeting was to be called for, one farmer testified as 
follows, and he was corroborated by the other witnesses for the 
defense, and by at least one witness for the plaintiffs : 

"'Question: State what that conversation was, what he (the agent) 
said and what you said.' 

"'Answer: He told me he was trying to sell a horse and wanted 
me to sign a book. I asked the object of signing the book and he said 
it was just to call a meeting and get the men together and see if they 
would buy the horse. I asked him why he wanted our names on the 
book if he just wanted to call a meeting, why didn't he call it without 
our names on the book. Well, he says, you fellows are strangers to 
me, your names are unfamiliar, and I want a list of them so that I 
will know who to notify when I get ready to call a meeting, or else, 
he says, I may forget some of you who would 'like a share in that 
horse. Then I asked if there was anything binding about the book. I 
saw some printed matter and asked him what that was, and he said 
there was nothing binding about it. I asked him what it was and what 
it was there for. He said it was just a memorandum showing that the 



HORSE SECRETS 4I 

meeting was called for, and the meeting would be to make a proposi- 
tion to us to sell the horse, and if we seen fit to buy the horse, well 
and good. If not, he said he would be out so much time and no harm 
done. That is the sum and substance of the conversation we had 
until I signed the book.' 

"It seems clear enough that the defendants believed they were 
simply signing a call for a meeting to consider the subject of forming 
a company to buy a horse; at any rate, the case seemed so clear to 
Judge Garland that, he did not seriously consider the question of 
compelling the farmers to give their notes as demanded by the plaintiffs, 
and threw the case out of court." 

Horse Peddlers' Confession. 

A peddler is a horse sharper who buys a cheap stallion of question- 
able quality, soundness, prepotency or breeding, from some large horse 
dealing firm, and then organizes a company of farmers for his purchase 
at a handsome profit. The tricks of such men are many and shady, 
and a few of them are here quoted for the benefit of farmers, who being 
thus forewarned, should in future be forearmed against the wiles of 
these glib-tongued confidence men. 

The "Farm, Stock and Home" vouches for the truth of the follow- 
ing personal confession of a stallion peddler: 

The S&le of Les Epinards- 

I had noticed in a farm paper the advertisement of an auction sale 
of Percheron horses to be held at the farm of a breeder in an adjoining 
state, I slipped down there a few days before the date of sale, and picked 
out a nice looking, two-year-old stallion, and on the day of sale bid 
$320, and the horse was sold to me. A pedigree was thrown in, but as 
it was written in the English language and the horse had a common, 
pronounceable name, I discarded it and christened him Les Epinards. 
At that time I didn't know what Les Epinards meant, but remembered 
having seen it somewhere. I shipped him to a small town and started 
in to organize a company to buy him for $2,800. The pedigree proposi- 
tion bothered me until I heard Billie was organizing a company in 
the next county. He very kindly lent me a pedigree that he had in 
his trunk which answered very well for Les Epinards. It was natural 
for me to say that the Epinards were celebrated breeders over in 
France who always named their horses after themselves. The name 
and the horse made a hit, and in six weeks' time I had the signatures 
of ten farmers each for $280, four of them good, and the others just 
well enough known to the banker to cut down his discount 15 per cent. 
As it was a joint note, the banker realized in full and I came out of the 
sale in this fashion : 

Price to company $2,800 

EXPENSES. 

Paid for the horse $320 

Freight 12 

Bank discount 420 

Board 60 

Paid cappers .^ 150 

Groom SS 

Feed 18 1,035 

Profit $1,765 

Now that's what Tummy would call "financial acumen." I bought 
a horse at an auction sale for $320, shipped him to another county in 



42 HORSE SECRETS 

the same state and sold him for $2,800. It gradually dawned on me 
that there was more money in the selling than there was in the breeding 
and raising. Tummy was a wise boy, but I was beginning to learn a few 
things myself. 

Secrets About Stallion Pedigrees. 

It is highly important that the pedigree certificate offered with a 
stallion should be carefully scrutinized by the intending buyer. If it 
looks suspicious the deal should not be closed until the pedigree has 
been pronounced O. K. by an expert. Such an examination will be 
cheerfully made for the buyer by the executive officer of any one of 
the Stallion Registration Boards of the various states. Such boards 
are now existent in the following , states: California, Colorado, Idaho. 
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, 
Nebraska, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon. Pennsylvania, South 
Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. 

The registry certificate in each case should be from one of the 
stud book associations recognized by the various Stallion Registration 
Boards (see page 37). There are many non-recognized stud books and 
their registry certificates are attractive and apparently regular; but 
usually are worthless. In Wisconsin we have turned down many of 
such certificates, and the stallions, bought as pure-bred at long prices, 
have been licensed as "grades." 

Farmers are also frequently hoaxed into buying a "grade" stallion 
as pure-bred on the strength of a handsome, hand-printed, extended 
pedigree, in colored inks and on a highly ornate blank. Many grade 
trotting horses have such pedigree certificates, but are non-eligible 
to registry in the American Trotting Register. We have had to issue 
license certificates as "grades" to several horses bought because of 
such attractive tabulated pedigrees, which usually show only the breed- 
ing of the pure-bred sire and his pure-bred dam and tell practically 
nothing about the dam of the stallion in question. The figures of track 
records appear back of the names of horses on such certificates, in 
the absence of registry or stud book numbers. In Kansas a stallion 
was sold for $3,200 on the registry certificate issued by the National 
Percheron Horse Breeders' Association, which is not recognized by 
the Stallion Registration Boards. The fraud was discovered when 
application was made for a state license. Three Percheron stud books 
were originally "certified" by the Government. It was possible for one 
stallion to be registered in each of these. We have proof that such 
records have been made. It is therefore necessary to prove the identity 
of the horse before buying. A pedigree certificate may live after the 
horse is dead. A representative for the certificate is easily found. 
Sharpers buy such pedigrees and use them for pure-bred or grade 
horses that fit the description. Often we find the date of birth changed 
by pen. Sometimes it is quite clumsily done. We know of several 
instances in which the date of birth has been changed on both foreign 
and .'\merican registry certificates. In other cases the description is 
changed. "For instance, on a foreign certificate 'grey' was changed 
to 'black' by erasing the French word 'grise' and inserting 'noir.' 
The change can readily be detected. Many French pedigrees (green 
certificates) look all right but really are counterfeits and do not appear 
in the French stud book. On these bogus certificates the signatures 
of breeder and officers often are put in with a rubber stamp or are 
missing. In many cases when a stallion (Percheron) is being sold the 
seller claims for it that it has been 'Approved by the Government of 
France.' and backs up this statement by calling attention to the brand 



HORSE SECRETS 43 

on the animal's neck. This brand appears very much like our $ mark, 
but is made up of a combination of the two letters S and P interwoven. 
This brand is not the approval brand of the French Government, but 
is the mark of the Societe Hippique Percheronne de France, and indi- 
cates that the animal has been duly recorded in the foreign Percheron 
.■itud book. The mark of approval placed on a stallion by the French 
Government is a five-pointed star on the neck. The density of both of 
these brands varies, and on some animals they have gone deeper into 
the hair or skin than on others, so that frequently they are barely 
visible. This 'approval' game is worked for all it is worth by the 
unscrupulous dealer and scalper, who never makes a second trip into 
the same community. Some of the more unreliable dealers and import- 
ers advertise their stallions as being 'Approved and branded.' In the 
case of being branded it generally is found to be on the hoof, and the 
per cent, of 'Approved' ones is comparatively small. It is an easy 
matter to fabricate as required. At auctions in America mature mares 
have been seen with the brand marks still unhealed. Who put them 
there may be imagined, but cannot be positively known by the buyer." 
The moral is to always buy a stallion of a reputable importer or 
breeder. Fight shy of peddlers and professional company organizers. 
Such men often deal in useless, unsound or impotent stallions or those 
that have questionable pedigrees. They visit a district, cultivate the 
acquaintance of an influential farmer, buy his influence with some free 
shares of stock in the stallion or by a cash present, and through him 
obtain the signatures of the needed number of "gudgeons" to efTect 
a sale for at least $l,ooo more than the horse is worth. It is said 
to cost the dealer $i,ooo to form a company and "put a horse on to 
them" at two to four or more thousands of dollars. An impotent 
stallion may be sold season after season at a cheap figure in a different 
district. He serves the purpose for forming a company organization 
and is exchanged for another stallion at a handsome sum "to boot" 
when found to be "no good." The individual buyer or company of 
farmers always can save money and escape fraud by purchasing the 
needed stallion direct from the importer or breeder. The company 
plan of purchase is not in itself objectionable, and often has proved of 
great value in the improvement of our horses. The objectionable 
feature is the manner in which many companies have been formed and 
the way in which notes have been transferred and discounted. 



44, HORSE SECRETS 



Some Veterinary Secrets. 



Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease. 

When a new-born foal speedily develops abscesses involving the 
navel and the joints of the extremities, the cause is an invasion of the 
navel by filth germs and this may easily be prevented. A mare foaling 
in cold weather should be provided with a clean, fresh bedded, disin- 
fected, light, airy, whitewashed box stall in which to have her foal. 
In the summer season she may be allowed to foal on grass where filth 
germs are less liable to be found than in old, dark, dirty stables. But 
no matter where the foal is born, care must be taken to thoroughly 
disinfect the navel cord (umbilicus) as soon as it has been severed or 
tied. For this purpose a I :soo solution of bichloride ot mercury (cor- 
rosive sublimate) is usually recommended, but we advise the use of 
a much stronger solution to be prepared as follows: Dissolve 2 drams 
of finely powdered corrosive suljlimate in i pint of boiling water to 
which has been added i dram of dilute hydrochloric acid. When cold 
add % ounce of tincture of iron, as coloring matter; label the bottle 
"poison" and keep it out of the reach of children. 

At the birth of a foal immediately wet the stump of the navel with 
this solution and repeat the application twice daily until the cord dries 
up and falls ofif and no raw spot can be seen. The solution at the time 
of using may conveniently be held in a shallow wide-mouthed bottle 
into which the stump of the cord may be inserted and immersed. As 
soon as the cord has shrivelled up remove it, if it will come away 
readily. The new raw surface can easily be got at with the solution 
Use of the solution will also tend to prevent leakage of urine from 
the navel. 

Full strength tincture of iodine also is highly recommended as a 
preventive of navel infection. It may be used in place of the strong 
corrosive sublimate solution and should be applied once daily in the 
same manner as that preventive, or saturate the stump of the navel 
at birth with tincture of iodine, and then repeatedly dust with a mixture 
of equal parts of powdered alum, starch (or calomel) and boric acid 
until perfectly coated over. Apply more powder daily if any dampness 
of the part is seen. Professional veterinarians now give hypodermic 
injections of antistreptococcic serum for the prevention or cure of 
infection of the navel. 

It is best to avoid, wherever possible, tying the navel cord at birth. 
The natural way is for the cord to be broken at birth, either when the 
foal is dropped or by the mare rising, and so causing it to break by 
stretching it. When this happens the walls of the fetal urinary passage 
(urachus), the arteries and the vein of the umbilicus retract and close 
the opening: whereas these vessels are liable to remain open for 
entrance of germs if the cord has been ligated, or cut off and the 
ligature quickly removed, besides allowing the escape of urine by way 
of the pervious urachus. 

Symptoms of Bad Teeth. 

In some old horses whose molar teeth are diseased or irregular, 
perfect mastication of hay becomes impossible. After the animal has 



HORSE SECRETS 



45 



chewed for a time, the teeth and tongue tend to form a ball (bolus) of 
hay which is forced out of the mouth instead of being swallowed. This 
is termed "quidding," and when it is seen it may be taken as an indication 
of the need of a veterinary dentist with his instruments. In other cases 
the partly masticated food is gathered in a pouch between the molar 
teeth and cheek, and this can be plainly seen and felt by the careful 
examiner. This pouch is sometimes called the "granary," and from the 
outside its presence is indicated by an elongated tumor which has a 
doughy feel when pressed with the finger. 

When a diseased molar is present in the mouth, or when a "granary" 
exists, there is a foul odor, which should lead to the discovery of the 
condition. To distract attention from this odor it is said that horse 
dealers always take the precaution to cleanse the mouth of the horse 
with vinegar. 

A chronic discharge from one nostril (nasal gleet), accompanied by 
a fetid odor, should warn the buyer to make a critical examination of 
the teeth, for if one is diseased and is the cause of the discharge, it 
will have to be removed by trephining, and that means expense and 
possibly loss of the service of the horse for some time. 

Remedies for Tail Rubbing. 

Idle, overfed, and insufficiently groomed horses often persistently 
rub their manes and tails to allay itchiness of the skin, induced by col- 
lections of dandruff which have escaped the curry-comb and brush. The 
hair on the root of the tail soon becomes harsh, stubby and stands on 
end so that the part becomes an eyesore, and especially so when con- 
tinued rubbing has produced sores, cracks and an exudate of serum, 
blood or pus. 

A Virginia horseman once advised the writer that tail rubbing could 
quickly be cured if, at the outset, the following simple plan of treatment 
be adopted. Twist a lock of the upright hair of the affected part around 
the second finger, and then pull until the skin "gives" with a cracking 
sound. Repeat the pulling, lock by lock, until all of the part has been 
treated, when the rubbing will cease. If it does not do so promptly, 
repeat the treatment as required. This plan is known also in Scotland. 
Another horseman advised that when a mare persistently rubs her 
tail the cause may be a collection of filth about the udder; a thorough 
washing with castile soap will end the trouble. 

Dealers who handle fine carriage horses and are preparing such 
animals for sale put each in a box stall during the feeding process and 
prevent tail rubbing by putting a wide plank shelf-wise on brackets 

around the inside of the 
walls of the box. When 
the horse attempts to 
rub, the edge of the plank 
will strike several inches be- 
low the itching part, and so 
make tail rubbing impossible. 
Another effective plan of pre- 
vention is to put a wainscot 
of boards upon the lower 
part of the walls, so slanted 
outward at the floor surface 
that the horse backing to the 
wall cannot get his rump 
against any surface upon 
which to rub. Dealers also 
injury. Others suggest "tying 
two or three pieces of tape or ribbon around the tail, one near the 




bandage the tail with flannel to prevent 



46 



HORSE SECRETS 



tail-head, a second near the middle of the tail-bone, 
the lower end of the bone." (Harper.) 



and a third nt-.ir 




A Cruel Cure for Heaves. 

An old horseman once told the writer that he had cured many a 
horse of heaves by simply amputating a portion of the tongue. "Guess 
I've cut ofif enough pieces of tongue," said he, "to fill a half bushel 
basket;" and he seemed to take pride in a statement which would strike 
any humanitarian as the climax of barbarity. The same man also 
strongly advocated the amputation of the tip of a horse's tail, when for 
any reason the animal had gone down paralyzed. 

It always is well to examine a horse's tongue before buying, as 
mutilations are not infrequently met with. Cases are on record where 
a brute has put a twitch on a horse's tongue, to 
make him stand still in the shoeing shop, with the 
result that a portion of the organ has been torn off 
during the struggles of the poor beast. Severe biting 
of a fractious horse, or tearing by a nail or other 
sharp object, may also injure the tongue more or 
less severely and perhaps lessen the value of the 
animal. 

When a considerable portion of the tongue has 
been lost, the horse is unable to drink without 
plunging his head up to his eyes in the water, and 
he also has difficulty in grazing. 

Stitches are sometimes put in the tongue of a 
horse to make it sore and so prevent it from cribbing. 

An Astringent for Scours. 

The following interesting remedy is taken from the "Complete 
Farrier," published in 1850: 

"But when the disorder (a scouring) continues, and the horse's 
flesh keeps wasting away, recourse must be had to astringents. Tor- 
mentil root, dried and pounded in a mortar, and put through a sieve, 
is one of the best astringents yet found, though very little known. I 
heartily wish my fellow creatures would make more use of this valuable 
root than they do. The dose is from an ounce to an ounce and a half. 
I believe that this valuable root has done more good in my time, in 
stopping looseness and other bowel complaints, than anything else." 

I 
An Old Operation for Spavin. 

A few years ago it was recommended as a new treatment that the 
saphena vein be obliterated at the place where it passes the seat of 
spavin, before using the firing irons. We recently ran across an illusion 
to this method of treatment which shows that it is by no means new. 
It is referred to as follows in the "Complete Farrier and Horse Doctor," 
published in 1850, the writer being John C. Knowlson, of New York, a 
nonagenarian "horse doctor" of the old school: "Before you fire a 
horse for bone-spavin, be careful to take the vein out of the way, for 
it generally lies over the spavin, and you cannot fire deep enough to 
come at the callous substance without its removal. In order to destroy 
the vein, cut a nick through the skin to the vein, just below the spavin, 
and another just above it, and put a crooked needle under the vein and 
tie both ends; then cut the vein across between the tyings, both above 
and below, and you may either draw out the piece or leave it in." 

The same author says relative to the treatment of box-spavin: 
"As soon as you discover the vein puffed up or forming a bag, lay on 



HORSE SECRETS 



47 



some blistering ointment, and in four days after bathe the swelling well 
with hot vinegar with a little saltpeter dissolved in it. Also put a 
bandage round it to disperse the swelling as much as you can. If this 
method does not succeed, you must make two incisions in the skin 
lengthwise, as the vein runs, one just above and the other just below 
the joint, and lay the vein bare; then put the end of a buck's horn 
under it, raise it up, and fasten it in both places with waxed thread; 
then cut the vein in two just within the tyings, and, if you think proper, 
draw the severed piece out. This method of proceeding will cure most 
bog-spavins at the beginning." 

Secret of Drenching & Horse. 

There is perhaps no veterinary act more commonly "botched" than 
the administration of a liquid "drench" to a horse. The empiric and 
stableman too often make it well nigh impossible for the horse to 
swallow his "dope" and generally render the effort at least distressing. 

They pull up the horse's head so high that 
he has imperfect control of his throat, then 
they pull out the tongue, pour in large quan- 
tities of nauseous concoction, which often is 
too strong or caustic, and when the poor 
beast splutters, drools, coughs and refuses 
to swallovv, they further aggravate his misery 
by squeezing or pounding upon his "swal- 
low." Let the man who does these dire 
barbarities try them on himself. Peradven- 
ture he will suffocate in the trial; but so 
does the horse. Many a fine animal has 
been killed by the medicine "going the 
wrong way" into the lungs and causing 
mechanical bronchitis or pneumonia. There 
is just one good sensible, practical and 
safe way to "drench" a horse. Back 
him into a stall. Make a running noose 
upon a small cotton rope or clothes- 
line. Put the noose over the upper 
incisor teeth, under the lip, with the 
knot to the front. Throw the free end 
of the rope over a beam above the horse 
or have it run through a small pulley attach- 
ed to the drenching hook here illustrated. 
Raise the horse's head sufficiently to prevent the medicine from 
running out of his mouth but not so high that he cannot swallow. Put 
the medicine in a strong, long-necked bottle. From it pour into the 
mouth not over half to one ounce of medicine (one to two tablespoon- 
fuls) at a time. If he does not swallow tickle the roof of his mouth 
with the finger tips or neck of bottle. Do not pull out his tongue. 
Do not squeeze his throat. If he refuses to swallow, pour a teaspoonful 
of cold water in one nostril. Never give medicine by way of the 
nostrils. Never pull a horse's head up by means of the halter shank, 
halter, or by a hay fork inserted in the nose band of halter. See that 
the medicine is neither too hot nor too strong. 

Facts About Pigment Tumors. 

On gray horses that at ten or twelve years of age are turning white 
m color, purple-back malignant growths, known as pigment or mela- 
notic tumors, frequently appear where the skin is black in color, and 
constitute the disease termed melanosis. The common seat of such 




48 HORSE SECRETS 

tumors IS the skin of the tail, anus, vulva, and lips, and while most often 
external, may be present internally. Such tumors are practically incur- 
able, returnmg after having been amputated and cauterized. They 
usually burst and discharge bloody pus, and give the affected part a 
loathsome appearance. In young horses of gray color, a careful 
examination will often disclose small rudimentary tumors, and horses 
so afTected should be bought with a right understanding of the conse- 
quences. Fatal attacks of a mysterious disease may be caused by 
internal melanotic tumors. 

As an indication of the probability of these tumors being present 
internally, the French veterinary scientists, Goubaux and Barrier, say 
m their "Exterior of the Horse": 

"The hairs of the mane, like those of the tail, are ordinarily straight. 
One of our associates, Mercier, has communicated a remark on this 
subject, which was also believed by the Arabians; that it is in the white 
or gray horses with frizzled or curly hairs in which melanotic tumors are 
always found in the interior of the body, although none may have any 
apparent trace on the exterior, particularly under the tail and around 
the anus. This remark, the correctness of which we have verified a 
number of times, both on the living subject and in the cadaver, is very 
important, because of the dangers to which animals afTected with 
melanosis are exposed." 

Don't be Too Quick to Kill. 

When a horse happens to fall in the road and is unable to rise, the 
driver or the veterinarian is sometimes too hasty in having the animal 
shot. Before this is done a thorough expert examination should be made 
and the horse given the benefit of the doubt, if there is any question as 
to the exact nature of the injury. We could cite many instances where 
horses have needlessly been destroyed. They could have been saved by 
proper treatment. In one case of this sort, a race horse went down on 
the track. After a hasty examination his injury vvas pronounced incur- 
able and the revolver used. A post mortem examination is said to have 
revealed no fracture, and the last we heard, the case was in the courts 
for settlement. 

Dr. E. L. Quitman, V. S., writing in the "Quarterly Bulletin" of 
the Chicago Veterinary College, draws attention to the fact that should 
a horse be unfortunate enough to lose his tongue, he need not be 
shot; after a time he will manage to eat and drink despite the loss of 
his tongue. He recounts the following case in evidence: "The first 
case the writer had, in which a horse had had his tongue torn out by 
the roots (so-called), where the tongue was out in its entirety, not 
even a stump of it being left, did not bring a death sentence for the 
horse, but a 'trial for life,' and he proved himself innocent. After 
a ten to fourteen days' diet on oatmeal and linseed meal suspended in 
water or milk, the bucket being kept well filled so that the patient could 
immerse his muzzle deep in the mixture, scoop it up and drink it down, 
he was put on oats; the oat box was ordered to be kept well filled so 
that he could grab a mouthful. It was comical, pathetic and highly 
instructive to watch this horse learn to eat oats without a tongue, 
which he soon did by working his mouth well down into the oats, then 
throwing his head up, so that the oats fell back into his mouth. Finally 
he became so expert and deft with his lips that he could clean out a 
feed box as thoroughly as if he possessed his tongue, and he did the 
same work and kept in as good condition as before the accident. _ Since 
that first case I have had several others of the same kind, with no 
fatalities." 



HORSE SECRETS 49 



Secrets of Buying and Selling Horses. 



Auction Szkle Rules.* 

At the Chicago Stock-yards the auction sales of horses, conducted 
in the "bull ring," at Dexter Park, are regulated by certain definite 
rules which should be understood by horsemen and farmers. 

When a horse is brought in for sale, a sign stating how the horse 
is to be sold is immediately exposed on the auctioneer's rostrum. 
There are six of these signs, viz., (i) Sound. (2) Serviceably sound. 
(3) Wind and work. (4) Work only. (5) Legs go. (6) At the halter. 

Terms on all sales are strictly cash. 

All horses must be examined and tried by purchaser as soon as 
bought, and must be tried and accepted on the premises during the 
day of sale, as all guarantees on horses expire with that day, and on 
delivery of the horse. In no case can a horse be rejected except on the 
day of sale, unless sold as sound and proved to be a cribber, heavey, 
crampy or lame. If proven to have any of the four named faults, the 
purchaser shall have until 9 a. m. the following day to reject the horse. 
Purchasers failing to try and examine horses within the required time 
forfeit all right of rejecting them, and no horse sold to wind and work 
shall be rejected for any cause except he proves windy or will not work. 

Should any question arise for adjustment between buyer and seller 
the matter shall be referred to three members of the Union Stock- 
yards Horse Exchange, the decision of a majority of whom shall be final. 

Any person found guilty of doping a horse to hide the fact that 
the animal is windy, heavey, crampy, cribby or lame, shall be expelled 
from the market and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. 

The following is an explanation of the principal rules governing 
sales in the auction ring: 

1. Sound. — A horse sold as sound must be perfectly sound in 
every way. 

2. Serviceably Sound. — Must be virtually a sound horse. His wind 
and eyes must be good; he must not be lame or sore in any 
way,., but sound, barring slight blemishes, and these blemishes must 
not constitute any unsoundness. A spot or streak in the eye, which 
does not afTect the sight, will be considered serviceably sound as long 
as the pupil of the eye is good. A further explanation is given as fol- 
lows by F. J. Berry & Co.. a well-known horse commission firm at the 
Chicago Stock-yards: "Blemishes must be nothing more than splints; 
the horse may be slightly puffed and a little rounding on the curb joint, 
but he must not have a bad-looking curb, and must not have a brand. 
He may be a little cut in the knees, but he must not stand over on the 
knees or ankles. He may have a little puff on the outside of the hock, 
but he must not have thoroughpin, or boggy-hock, ring-bone, or jack, 
although he may naturally be a little coarse jointed; but the front 
part of the hocks inside must not be puffed. He may have slight scars 
of wire marks, but these must not cause any deformity of the body, 
legs or feet, and must be nothing more than a slight scar. He must 

♦Exceptions to the above rules may be announced from the auction stand and defects 
pointed out, in which case they are recorded and go with the horse. 



50 HORSE SECRETS 

not have any scar from fistula or poll-evil. He must not have a hip 
down, and if one hip is a trifle lower than the other, it must be natural, 
and not a deformity like the cap of a hip down. He must not have 
side-bone, or any bad blemishes that deteriorate his value more than 
a trifle, but must be sound, barring slight blemishes that do not hurt 
him or change his value very little, and in no case more than the above- 
mentioned blemishes. Car bruises must be of a temporary nature. 

3. Wind and Work. — A horse sold to wind and work must have 
good wind and be a good worker, and not a cribber, but everything else 
goes with him. 

4. Work Only. — He must be a good worker, but everything else 
goes with him. Ability to work is the only thing guaranteed. 

5. Legs Go. — Everything that is on the horse's legs go with him. 
Nothing is guaranteed except that he must not be lame or crampy. 
He must, however, be serviceably sound in every other respect. 

6. At the Halter. — Sold just as he stands without any recom- 
mendations. He may be lame, vicious, balky, a kicker or anything else. 
The title only is guaranteed; the purchaser takes all the risk. 

Reputable De2s.lers Protect Their Patrons. 

The horse buyer who patronizes a reputable commission firm or 
dealer in the Chicago horse market, or in any other great selling 
centre, will be honestly and fairly dealt with. The rules against cheat- 
ing are stringent, and trickery is not countenanced among the leaders 
of the trade. Doping an unsound horse may be punished by expulsion 
from the market, and tricks, like the application of "soup" to make a 
horse act mean, are prohibited on "horse row." It is when a buyer 
deals with a "scalper" who conducts his business "under his hat," or 
patronizes the dealers who conduct a questionable business at small 
sales stables on the side streets near the stock-yards, that he may 
expect to get "the short end of the deal," and we would strongly advise 
our readers to give such dealers and sales stables a wide berth. 

As an illustration of how dishonesty is regarded among horsemen 
in some of the markets, the following well-authenticated incident may 
be told. In Kansas City a horse that had been overdosed with drugs 
to conceal the symptoms of heaves, dropped dead while climbing an 
incline. The story of the "accident" spread through the market, and 
the next morning, when the owner of the drugged horse offered 
another of his animals in the auction ring, the auctioneer is said to 
have stopped, told the story to the audience, pointed out the man who 
gave the drugs and the owner, and added, "Now, this man has a load 
of horses to sell to-day and you folks can be your own judges about 
buying them." 

The seller from the country is as likely to "put up a job" on the 
commission man or dealer as the latter is to cheat the greenhorn buyer, 
and we agree with Dr. Hawley, who says: "Horsemen in general are 
not more dishonest than men in any other branch of business which 
offers like opportunities for trickery; neither do I believe they are more 
dishonest than the men who buy from them." 

Two Sides to a Horse. 

When a horse is first led out for the intending buyer to examine 
him in the dealer's stable, it is a common trick to stand the animal 
close against a wall. 3y this means objectionable features of the 
"other side of the picture" are hidden, and the pleasing aspects of the 
proposition, plain to the eye and hand of the purchaser, alone are 
considered by him in making his choice. If the horse is sold subject 
to such examination and without a written guaranty, there is no 



HORSE SECRETS 



51 




««AIft< 



recourse for the purchaser when, perchance, the next hour or day he 
finds on the off side of the horse a "wall-eye," a brand mark, a big 
shoe boil, a knocked-down hip, a fistula of the withers or some other 
objectionable and troublesome or even seriously hurtful blemish or 
condition. 

The intending purchaser should get the horse away from the wall 
and make a tour of inspection around him, looking carefully at every 
part and detail, and then using the hand, if necessary, to corroborate 
or correct what the eye has seen or suspected. It is always best to 
look at the horse from a little distance before closing in, and making 
a more careful inspection. Close inspection deals with minute things, 

and may make one 
overlook or fail to see 
bigger and more im- 
portant things which 
would appeal to the 
eye when taking in the 
entire side of the horse 
at a look. 

When a dealer is 
extra particular to 
draw attention to one 
side of the animal, take 
It for granted that there is something on the other side which is worth 
looking into. 

A Little III to Distract Attention from a Big One. 

Often we have seen tricks such as the following practised in the 
"bull ring" at the stock-yards. A horse having a small spot or speck 
in its eye which does not implicate the pupil, is sold to "wind and work" 
(see auction rule No. 3, page 50). 

The grooms and ringmen loudly draw the attention of the audience 
to the condition of the eye, and repeatedly assert that it does not 
amount to anything. This is done on purpose to distract attention 
from some far more serious defect that otherwise would be noticed by 
the prospective buyer. Dr. Hawley says of this scheme, "The horse is 
kept constantly in motion with the whip. The auctioneer and salesman 
are always looking for an angel to drop in, and one usually does. The 
horse is ordinarily sold to the angel on his first bid." 

Beware of Hoof Dressing. 

When the hoofs of a sale horse are seen to be newly daubed with 
black hoof dressing, polish, or varnish, look out! or rather, look in! 
for there may be vital need Ojt the artificial coating to hide serious 
defects. The dressing, if wet, will soil the examiner's hands, hence he 
will be less likely to handle the feet and therefore fails to discover that 
a quarter crack or sand crack has been concealed, or the fact that the 
hoof ha? been rasped extensively for the removal of the rings and 
ridges that if exposed to the notice of the prospective buyer, would 
tell a plain story of chronic founder. 

The sound, healthy, waxy appearing hoof needs no coloring or 
dressing material, and when such things are freely used they are often 
applied to hide the marks of the rasp. 

Buying &. Pair. 

While a properly matched and trained pair of carriage horses should 
"act like one horse" when in motion, the buyer should be careful to 



j2 HORSE SECRETS 

examine each horse carefully "to halter." The two animals should be 
capable of being harnessed to the carriage indifferently to the right or 
left, and no attention should be paid to the observations of the dealer, 
who may explain how they have been accustomed to be driven always 
on the same side, and who, as a rule, will harness the better one of the 
two horses on the left side, and the poorer one on the right. The 
examiner naturally pays most attention to the left horse, but he should 
examine each in a thorough manner, for it often happens when this 
is done that one horse is found to be of far inferior quality and of less 
value than its mate, on the "nigh side." 

A "High English" Guaranty. 

A thrifty German truck farmer once called the writer to examine a 
newly bought work horse and to give him "a line" so that he would be 
able to get his money back from the dealer, the animal having proved 
unsound. "I have me a written guaranty and a witness that he been 
all right," said he, "and now you help me oudt mit a line." An examina- 
tion showed that the horse was terribly afflicted with heaves, accom- 
panied with coughing and passing of gas. He heaved so hard that his 
entire body shook, and the squeaking of the breathing apparatus was 
easily heard. Evidently the horse had been skilfully ' shut" or doped 
by the seller, and now that the effects of the treatment had passed oft 
the unsoundness showed up plainly. Asked for his "guaranty," the 
farmer kept iterating and reiterating his statement that it was all right 
and duly witnessed. At last he produced it, and it read to this effect, 
"This horse is hereby guaranteed free from all encumbrances." 

"Do you know what 'encumbrances' means?" he was asked, and 
the answer was, "No, I don't know such high English words, but I 
guess it means sound and all righdt in wint and limb, and to work, 
aind't it?" 

He got his "line," and by paying $80 to boot brought back another 
horse with a less comprehensive but more satisfactory guaranty. 

Moral: It is best to understand "'high English" and the language 
and ways of the dealer when buying a horse so that a written guaranty 
may really protect the buyer. 

The gullibility of some buyers is almost beyond belief. Dr. E. L. 
Quitman, V. S., relates that one of his customers consulted him about 
a "guaranty" he had received from a dealer and incidentally regarding 
the animal bought. 

$150.00. Dec 19 

Received of John Doe, one hundred fifty dollars, in full for one 
heavey bay horse. 

(Signed A. SHARP, 

The horse was verbally guaranteed sound, but not in the presence 
of witnesses. When the receipt was read to the buyer the word 
"heavey" was pronounced "heavy." As the horse weighed about 1,450 
pounds, and the buyer was an ignorant fellow, the catch word failed to 
strike him as peculiar until explained to him by the veterinarian. This 
was a tricky use of ordinary English and one that shows the need of 
careful study of a written guaranty before its acceptance by the buyer. 

An Unsound Horse Sometimes a Good Bargain. 

Some kinds of unsoundness render a horse useless for work on the 
hard streets of the city, yet do not unfit him for work on the soft land 
of the farm. Where this is the case, it will often pay the farmer whose 
pocketbook is not particularly well filled to pass by the young, soft, 



HORSE SECRETS 



53 



untried, expensive horses that have been specially fattened to bring high 
prices and buy a second-handed horse at a bargain price. 

For example, suppose a big, strong gelding, getting along in years, 
has four well-developed side-bones which render him stilty and stiff 
in gait for city use, and which on that account is offered for $80, or 
thereabout. Such a horse may prove a profitable purchase for use on 
the land. Were he sound he would sell readily for $125 or over, for 
city work, and when bought at a discount of $45 he will very likely do 
more and better work on the farm than would a sound, young, fattened, 
inexperienced horse at the higher figure. 

In making this statement the writer has in mind 'more than one 
corroborative instance of the sort in practise. 

A Second-Hand Horse. 

The owner who wants to sell his horse on the market should not 
clip off the mane and forelock, and it is a mistake even to cut the 
latter or to bang the tail. The stock-yard buyers, having special market 
requirements to meet, prefer to do their own "toilet work" on the 
horses they buy, and will pass by an otherwise good horse if he has 
been trimmed in a manner to which they object. 

A horse that has had the mane and forelock clipped oflf is looked up- 
on with suspicion on arrival at the market, and is likely to be termed 

"second-hand," meaning that he probably 
has been tried out in a fire department 
and found wanting. It is therefore dis- 
astrous policy to "roach" a horse before 
he has been thoroughly tested and found 
sound and suitable. 

Here is a case corroborative of this 
assertion: A fine gelding was bought for 
a fire department after a fairly thorough 
test for "wind." While being led a long 
distance behind a sulky from the country 
to the city the horse became fractious and 
broke away from the driver. On arrival 
in the city he was immediately taken to the engine-house and met with 
the unanimous approval of the fire laddies and chief. The next morn- 
ing the mane and foretop were clipped oflf and the horse was then sent 
out for a practise run. At once he proved terribly nervous and a rank 
roarer when in motion, but perfectly sound in wind the moment he 
stood at ease. 

The commissioner who bought the horse, at once took him back, 
refunded the purchase price, and sent him to the stock-yards. There 
he was instantly dubbed "second-handed"; ran up a bill of expense for 
his owner, who could not find a buyer, and finally contracted stock- 
yards distemper in virulent form. Eventually the animal was sold for 
less than half the purchase price and expense account, but not unti\ 
the mane had grown in again sufficiently to disarm suspicion. Remov- 
ing the mane or foretop will be certain to detract from the value of the 
horse in the market. 




"Protecting" the Buyer. 

In some sales-stables, when a coachman commissioned by a rich 
layman to purchase a singlt horse, or mstch a pair in his behalf, haj 
stated his needs, looked over a few animals, and hinted at what he 
can aflford to pay, he is asked by the dealer: "How much shall I protect 
you?" That means how much commission will you expect if the deal 
is consummated; and the coachman is not slow to ask a handsome 



54 HORSE SECRETS 

rake-off. Another plan of making a profit is to get as low a price or 
option as possible from the dealer, and then add a profit by having the 
seller charge a higher price than the option and afterward hand the 
balance to the buyer's agent. Unless the commissioner is paid a special 
fee by his employer for making the purchase, these methods of making 
living wages for the work involved in the deal are considered perfectly 
legitimate by men connected with the horse markets. 

Splitting the Profit Three Wa>.ys. 

In the great horse markets, when a gentleman's coachman, or a 
man who is deemed by him to be an expert judge, is commissioned 
to buy a certain style of horse at not over a stated price, the expert 
can easily arrange to make a double profit. He seeks out some scalper 
friend, and gives him a detailed description of the sort of horse wanted. 
The scalper then visits the stable of his associates in the business, selects 
a horse that "looks like the job" and secures an option on him at a 
price considerably lower than the buyer has said he will be willing to 
pay. He now brings in the expert, and if the horse suits that worthy, 
he is purchased at the option price and turned over to the employer 
of the expert at his specified price or a trifle less. Then the scalper and 
the expert divide the profit, or if another man "on the inside" has been 
used in the deal, the profit is "split three ways," to give him a slice. 
The buyer is usually well satisfied with his bargain, and probably could 
not have bought the horse cheaper at first hand. 

The Recent Wound Trick. 

Unscrupulous horse dealers sometimes attempt to deceive pur- 
chasers by knowingly oflfering for sale a horse which suffers from 
intermittent lameness. For this purpose then intentionally make a wound 
which renders him lame from a simple and apparent cause and for a 
duration which always exceeds that of the guarantee according to law. 
"We must be on our guard against such malpractice," says Goubaux 
and Barrier, and they further advise that in general a lame horse should 
never be bought unless his price is notably reduced. It is especially 
in this particular case that it is necessary to consult a veterinarian in 
order to be informed as to the gravity of the lesion and the cause of 
the lameness. If, however, it be determined to buy a lame horse having 
a recent wound, it is well to require from the seller an appropriate bill 
of warranty, as a matter of precaution in case the wound having entirely 
healed, the characters of a chronic intermittent lameness should after- 
ward manifest themselves. 

Secret of Detecting' a Dummy. 

When buying a horse beware of the dummy. He is more or less 
stupid from softening, or other disease of the brain. It is a progressive 
and incurable disease. When a mild dummy is being shown by the 
dealer, "It is," says Dr. A. H. Baker, V. S., "the ordinary practise to 
keep the horse excited by continually cracking and flourishing the whip, 
and giving him a crack around the hocks occasionally if necessary to 
keep him awake. He is not allowed to stand quiet a minute. Every- 
thuig in connection with the case is push, pull, whip and hurry up. 
The horse is in good condition, fat, of good age and sound otherwise, 
and the price being enticingly low, the sale is made. He is taken home, 
only to be found worthless next day. 

The preventive remedy: Ask the dealer to let you take his whip 
a minute as if to shake the horse up a little more, then put it quietly 



HORSE SECRETS 55 

under your arm, let the animal quiet down, when he will show his 
■defects, or the dealer will order him put away." 

Dr. George P. Frost, V. S., suggests that the intending purchaser 
should always remember to slip a finger into the horse's ear, for if he 
does not resent this he may be suspected to be a "dummy." 

Pointers on Buying a Horse. 

See the horse in his stall. Often the buyer is handed a cigar and 
asked to take a chair in the ofiice until the horse is "cleaned" for exami- 
nation. Time is thus had in which to cocaine a lame animal or "fix" him 
in other ways. The horse should allow one to enter and leave the stall 
without being bitten, squeezed against the partition or propelled out by 
one or both hind feet. Note if the horse "digs a hole" by pawing, 
"vveayes," has eaten his manger, has no feed in front of him, wears a 
cribbing strap,_ has feed that smells of ammonia or other medicine. Make 
him "get over" or "stand over" in his stall. He will hop on the sound 
leg if the other is spavined, or jerk up a hind leg if alilicted with string- 
halt and show quivering of muscles and tail if a "shiverer" (affected 
with chorea). This is even more noticeable on backing the animal out 
of the stall. If whipped in the stall, chorea is not readily detected. Stand 
the horse on a level door away from the wall before exercising. If sore 
or lame he will "point" one foot or both fore feet in turn, or shift from 
one foot to another and flex his joints (cock or knuckle over). Walk 
around him to examine from every point of view. See that he can 
back handily. Make him turn sharply each way to left and to right. This 
will disclose chorea (crampiness), "kinked" or anchylosed (ossified) 
back. The pupils of the eyes should contract on coming into the light 
from a dark stable, or when the hand is removed after covering the 
eye for a few minutes. Examine the feet. Do not buy a horse that 
wears a leather sole, rubber pad, or bar shoe before removing same for a 
careful examination. A corn, stone bruise, cankered sole, dropped sole, 
nail prick or thrush may be hidden by the contrivance mentioned. Give 
the horse all the water he will drink before testing his "wind." In 
examining for soundness suspect the presence of every known unsound- 
ness, defect, deformity and vice. Each is looked for in turn. If all are 
absent the horse is sound. Look for brands under the mane. Dr. N. S. 
Mayo, V. S., says "The letters T. C on the neck indicate that the animal 
has been inspected and condemned in service in the U. S. Army for un- 
soundness, vices or inability to stand gun fire." In France, when a stallion 
is found to be sound by the government inspectors, he is branded with a 
five-pointed star under the mane. If he fails to pass the examination he 
is branded with the letter "R," which stands for the word "refuse," 
meaning refused. The R may appear over the five-pointed star indicating 
that the horse was at one time passed as sound, but was condemned as 
unsound at a later examination. When a horse has been cocained to 
conceal lameness a tender swelling may be present on the course of the 
nerve above, on or just below the fetlock. "Wind galls" (puffs) about 
the fetlock are temporarily reduced by applying flat corks or pieces of 
dry sponge kept in place by bandages. Bandage marks show on the 
legs and should arouse suspicion. Beware of a tail switching horse or 
mare that urinates spasmodically when approached or spoken to. 

"Gyp" dealers do not offer horses "on trial." They sell outright 
and there is no recourse. Reliable dealers, on the contrary, often allow 
"two days' trial." and this is an advantage to the buyer. 

Dr. A. H. Baker. V. S.. suggests that the buyer should always be- 
ware of sore feet. He says that many a sore footed horse has been sold 
for sound after having stood in the soaking tub for six to twelve hours. 
The soaking temporarily relieves chronic founder, navicular disease, 
corns and kindred ailment. Reputable dealers are willing to insert in 



S6 HORSE SECRETS 

the bill of sale a return clause of forty-eight hours if the horse proves 
to be not as represented. Such a privilege should be asked for in every 
instance. 

The Break Away Trick. 

Sometimes a dealer takes in trade an old, stupid, sluggish, lifeless 
draft stallion that has been so long a prisoner in a dingy box stall 
and generally abused that he can scarcely walk or trot out of the 
way of his own feet. He is a loafer and stumbler. No buyer would 
bid once on seeing him act to halter; but there is a way of making him 
"go" without resort to "soup" (see page 21). The horse is kept in a 
dark stall without exercise and away from the sight, sound or smell 
of equine mates. When a likely buyer arrives the stallion is driven 
out with yells and the cracking of many a whip. Naturally he pulls 
and rears. Suddenly the halter shank parts and away goes the old 
faker, head and tail in air, and every joint flexing finely. He has action 
galore, for he thinks he has broken away and so neighs in triumph 
and acts the part of a young and agile colt. But alas, the halter rope 
had purposely been cut almost through and broke easily, so that both 
buyer and beast were shrewdly fooled. No wonder unwary buyers now 
and then "go broke"! 

Secret of the Auction Ring. 

In some auction rings at the great wholesale markets customs have 
been engrafted on the business which are mystifying to the novice, 
but taken as matters of course by regular habitues. Primarily, of course, 
the shipper does not propose to see his horses sold for less than they 
stand him — if he can help it. Consequently the first bid announced 
by the auctioneer is invariably about what it will take to let the con- 
signor out whole, and then a few perfunctory raises of $2.50 each 
follow. Thus the anirnal is carried to about the notch where the seller 
would like to place him, often without a single bona fide bid having 
been made. Supposing that no buyer appears to want the beast at the 
figure so reached, the auctioneer will then unblushingly start all over 
again, perhaps $20 lower than he did before. There is always some one 
ready to raise that bid, and if, perchance, the ultimate real offer made 
comes within the profitable zone, the hammer falls and the purchaser's 
name is announced. 

Sometimes the vendor is desirous of getting rid of the animal at 
some price, but no one seems to be willing to bid what spells a profit 
on cost-price and expenses. In such a case the horse, after an unsuc- 
cessful trip or two through the ring, is brought back and the auctioneer 
announces that "he will see what they will give for a good horse." 
Some sort of a figure is then sure to be bid and, unless the trade is 
very suspicious indeed, the beast finds a new owner at perhaps less 
than half of the sum to which he was first hoisted. All this is accepted 
without challenge or protest by the dealers, who know what is going 
on and govern themselves accordingly. They know besides that ship- 
pers cannot continue long to do business at a loss. 

Horse buyers are a hard class of men to deal with and the shipper 
believes he must protect himself or get the worst of it. If it was not for 
the buyers there would be no market, and the buyers take full advantage 
of that fact. The commission salesmen are inclined to favor- them to 
the limit of their power and submit to usages which would not be toler- 
ated in any other line of merchandising. For instance, a regular buyer, 
having bid in a horse, may, on second examination, not just exactly 
like the animal. No particular fault, just does not like him after all. In 
such a case he simply refuses to take and pay for him, and the dealer 
bows as gracefully as he can, knowing that if he sets in force the machin- 



HORSE SECRETS 57 

ery that will force the bidder to implement his transaction, that buyer 
will buy at other sales and his custom be lost in that manner. Likewise, the 
buyer is constantly seeking some excuse to "bush" the seller — that is, 
deduct from $s to $25 from the price bid — on some pretext, real or 
trumped up. Usually the shipper consents to some reduction rather 
than lose the sale outright. 

Buyers may be forced to take horses bid in by them in this way: 
If they refuse to settle, and their reasons for so refusing have been 
declared inadequate in the agreed way, the officials will on proper show- 
ing impound the rest of the horses owned by that buyer and refuse to 
let them be removed until the dispute has been adjusted to the satisfac- 
tion of all concerned. 

To Increase the Amount of Bone. 

Every purchaser of a horse seeks as much bone as possible. To 
increase the size of the legs below the knees and hocks, the back of 
the tendons is first lightly attacked with an instrument resembling a 
currycomb to irritate, but not pierce, the skin. The part — for about 
three to four inches below the joint — is then lightly beaten with a round, 
heavy stick — a common, old-fashioned desk ruler of ebony being the 
favorite instrument. The leg fills within a few hours and is hard, but if 
the job is neatly done, lameness does not ensue. When the condition 
desired has been achieved, the animal is shown to the buyer, who is, 
usually amazed to discover, if he does not see the animal for a few days,' 
that he has bought a good deal less bone than he anticipated. It is said, 
by unquestioned authority, that this trick has been successfully worked 
by some continental European dealers on unsuspecting American 
importers. 

Another trick is to blister an area just under a swelling or pufif. 
This detracts attention from the swelling, the blistered part appearing 
rough, while the other is smooth. 

A somewhat similar trick is described by Dr. A. M. Henderson, V. 
S., as follows: It is an old and cruel jocky trick when a horse is going 
lame in one leg to take a sack or some such container, put in a handful 
of small stones and use this to strike the opposite leg so as to cause a 
deep bruise, but no scar. The horse is thus caused to favor both legs, 
which is not nearly so noticeable as lameness of but one leg. 

A Glossary of Market Terms. 

In each of the great horse markets of the country certain technical, 
trade and slang terms are used in speaking of horses, and the intending 
buyer will do well to familiarize himself with them, else he may learn 
their meaning by dear-bought experience. In preparing the following 
glossary many of the terms explained are such as one hears in the 
Chicago market and elsewhere, and the writer has also freely quoted 
from an article entitled, "The Veterinary Horse Buyer," from the pen 
of Dr. H. W. Hawley, V. S., in the Chicago Veterinary College 
"Quarterly Bulletin" for June, 1903, and from Bulletin No. 122 of the 
Illinois Agricultural Experiment Station, in which Prof. Rufus C. 
Obrecht deals elaborately and instructively with the subject of "Market 
Classes and Grades of Horses and Mules." In many instances it has 
been thought well to explain technical matters relating to practical sub- 
jects as well as to interpret the special terms used by horsemen. 

A Bull. — If a horse grunts when stood against a wall and threatened 
with a stick or whip, he is called a bull (or grunter) and by many is con- 
sidered unsound in wind, or a roarer. The test is not conclusive, as not 
all roarers grunt and many sound horses grunt when so treated, or even 
when the rider places his foot in the stirrup. It is also used to describe 



58 HORSE SECRETS 

a wind-broken horse that chokes at work. A heavey horse does not 
grunt when tested in the above mentioned manner. 

A Bull Heaver. — A bad choker. 

A Canard. — A bit windy. 

A Coia Collar. — Balky. 

Afraid of the Floor. — Has chorea, or St. Vitus' dance. 

A Gravel. — Suppurating corn. It is not due to gravel. 

A Hole In. — There is "a hole in" a horse when he has some defect 
temporarily non-apparent. 

A Little Careless. — Knees bent forward, or sprung. 

A Little Coarse or Full in the Hock. — Spavin. 

A Little Nappy. — A little balky, or a dummy. 

A Little Ouchey. — Founder, or navicular disease. 

A Little Reading on Him. — Branded. 

A Little Rounding. — Curb. 

A Little Stamp On. — Branded. 

A Little Strong in the Mouth. — A lugger. Pulls on the bit. Tough- 
mouthed; may be unmanageable, a run-away, or subject to crazy fits. 

An Angel. — A greenhorn buyer who bids on an unsound horse. 
He usually gets him on his first bid. 

At the Halter. — "Sold to halter," or "at the halter" means without 
guarantee of any kind. The horse likely will be wild, balky, unmanageable 
or so unsound as to be useless. 

Beefy Hocks. — Coarse, meaty hocks having too much connective and 
adipose tissue. The hock should be clean, hard, free from beefiness, pufiFs 
and bony growths. ■ 

Bellows to Mend. — Wind-broken ; heaves. 

Bench-Legged. — Knees bent toward one another. 

Blind-Spavin. — Occult or hidden spavin among bones composmg 
■ hock joint. 

Blue Eye. — Eye showing a bluish or pearly cast, indicating unsound- 
ness and disease which may or may not have caused blindness. 

Bobber or Jig Back. — Weak loins causing bobbing or wobbling of 
the hind quarters. 

Boggy in Hocks. — Distension of the capsular ligament of the hock 
joint indicated by a large or small, soft, fluctuating, synovia-filled swelling 
at the front of joint. Such hocks appear dropsical. The condition consti- 
tutes bog-spavin, and by some is termed wind-puff or wind-gall. 

Bowed Tendon. — A thickened, bulging unsoundness of the back 
tendons (flexors). Caused by an injury. 

Broken Crest. — Coarse, thick, broken over crest under mane. Seen 
in stallions. Sometimes used to mean fistulous withers. 

Broken Down. — Fetlock bending too near ground, or tendency of 
toe to turn up as a result of injury to the tendons. Cause of acute lame- 
ness at time of accident. 

Broken-Foot. — Foot having lost horn of wall in places along plantar 
border so as to interfere with regular distribution of nails. 

Broken Knees. — Scarred knees showing results of a fall. May be 
new or chronic. Especially objectionable in saddlers. 

Brush. — To strike lightly or scuff the knee, cannon or ankle with 
the opposing foot. The injury is less than in knee-banging, knocking or 
interfering. 

Buck-Kneed. — Knees bent forward. 

Buck-Shinned. — Bulging profile of front of cannon bones. 

Bull Pen. — A horse auction sale ring. 

Burglar or Robber. — This is an expression used by "gyp" dealers 
to denote a good-looking horse with some slight defect which they can 
remedy temporarily. This horse is sold, the buyer discovers his defect in 
a short time and brings him back and trades him in or sells him at a 



HORSE SECRETS 59 

reduced price. Such a horse is stock in trade and the "gyps" sell him over 
and over again, trade him in and make money on him every time. 

Bush. — Forcing a consignor to accept a lower price that was bid in 
the auction ring. 

Calf-Kneed. — Opposite of buck-knees. Knees bent backward. 

Can't Keep a Secret. — A roarer; broken-winded. 

Capped Hock. — New and sore, or old and painless, swelling or 
callous of the_ point of the hock joint; due to bruise. 

Car Bruise. — Swellings, tumors, abscesses, on parts likely to have 
been bruised in shipping. Sometimes an excuse for such things not so 
caused. 

Careless. — A horse is "a little careless" when he stands with knees 
sprung. 

Cartilage. — A prominent lateral cartilage at quarter of foot. May 
or may not be a side-bone. 

Chest Founder. — Wasting or falling in of muscles of front of chest. 

Chestnut. — 1 lie horny projection found upon the lower inner aspect 
of the forearm and lower inner aspect of the hock joint. Considered a 
vestige of an additional hoof or foot pad of the prehistoric horse. 

Clefty; Clifty. — Flat, clean, fine quality cannon bones. 

Club-Footed. — Stiff, stilty upright forward position of foot, coronet 
and fetlock. 

Coarse-Footed. — Having side-bones. 

Cocked Ankle. — Fore or hind ankles (fetlocks) bent forward. Com- 
mon in young, overfed and under-exercised colts. When chronic, 
indicates shortening of flexor tendons and sometimes high ringbone. 

Cold-Footed. — "A little cold-footed" means stringhalt. 

Coon-Footed. — Long, sloping pasterns, throwing fetlocks low. 

Coupling. — The region of the lumbar vertebrae, loins, or space 
between last rib and hip. 

Cow-Hocked. — Standing like a cow with hocks together and toes 
turned out. 

Crampy. — Chorea, St. Vitus' dance, or slight stringhalt. The affect- 
ed animal jerks up a hind leg on backing out of stall, and at the same 
time the tail elevates and quivers, and the muscles shiver. 

Crest Fallen. — Broken over crest under heavy mane. Often means 
fistulous withers. 

Cribber. — A horse that fixes his teeth or rests his chin on any 
object and then sucks wind. 

Crock. — Old, crippled horse. 

Cross-Firing. — Striking one fore foot with opposite hind foot when 
pacing. 

Cross Hopples. — Hopples diagonally arranged to keep a horse from 
pacing, and en the trot. Rare. 

Curb. — A bulging enlargement at back of hind leg just below hock 
and resulting from an injury to the tendon and its sheath. 

Curby-Formed Hock. — An acutely bent or set hock giving a sickle 
appearance. Hind feet are thrown too far under body. 

Cushion. — A small puff toward front of outer side of hind cannon 
just below hock joint. 

Cut in the Wind. — "The least bit in the world" unsound in wind. 

Cutting. — Interfering or striking with feet on joints. 

Dead Spavin or Ringbone. — Lameness of spavin or ringbone sub- 
sided (killed) as result of firing and blistering, or other treatment. 

Dimple. — Point of hips lightly deformed by accident constitutes a 
"little dimple," slightly hipped. 

Dizzy. — A dummy. 

Dock. — 1 he tail. 

Docked. — Having had part of tail amputated. 



6o HORSE SECRETS 

Docked and Set Up. — By operation the tail is made to carry high, 
after being docked. 

Droop Croup. — Short, steep croup; tail set low. 

Dropped Soles. — Bulging, or convexity of soles at points of frogs, due 
to descent of pedal bone in acute founder. 

Dummy.— Softening of the brain following sunstroke or heart ex- 
haustion. Horse is dull, sleepy, stupid; takes hay into the mouth and 
forgets to chew it; and if the fore feet are placed crossing one another, 
they may be kept in that position indefinitely. 

Ergot. — The horny spur located at the back of the fetlock joint. The 
ergot is considered a vestige of an additional hoof of the prehistoric horse. 

Ewe Neck. — Low crest, inclining to concave formation rather than 
gracefully arched; markedly depressed in front of withers. 

Falls Out of Bed. — Pulls back on halter rope. 

Family Broke. — Takes the whole family to drive him. 

Family Broken. — Safe and gentle ; safe for family use. 

Feather in Eye. — Scar on eyeball, due to cut; it does not necessarily 
impair vision. 

Feel Sore from the Planks. — Has chorea; a shiverer. 

Filled Hocks. — Swelling of joints, indicating poor circulation, gross- 
ness. As a market term, it may mean bog-spavin and thoroughpin. 

Fistula. — Fistulous withers. An abscess with opening discharging 
pus from sinuses (pipes) connecting with diseased tissues of the withers. 

Fitly. — Has fits when hot. 

Fiat-Footed. — Low heels, dropped sole ; founder. 

Forging. — Noisily striking the fore shoe with toe of hind shoe when 
traveling. 

Founder. — Laminitis. Inflammation of the sensitive laminae of the 
foot, leading to lameness, dropped soles, rings and ridges in hoof wall and 
tendency to walk on heels. 

Freezer. — A palsied horse; "hind feet froze to the floor." 

Gill Flirt. — Perineum between rectum and vagina lacerated at foaling 
so as to unite passages. 

Glass-Eye. — Amaurosis or palsy of the sight in which, from paralysis 
of the optic nerve and retina, the eye is stone blind, yet bright, lustrous 
and prominent. The pupil is widely dilated and does not contract when 
exposed to bright light. As a market term, may mean cataract, watch-eye, 
wall-eye, or that condition in which the iris is pearly white in color and 
not necessarily diseased ; eye that shows white all around. 

Go Down, or Kidney Faller. — Collapses in hind quarters when 
worked. 

Goose Rump. — A short, steep croup and narrow at the point of the 
buttock. 

Goosey. — A horse that is nervous in the stall. 

Gristle. — A forming side-bone or enlargement of the lateral cartilage 
due to tread, bruise or wire cut. 

Guinea. — A Greek or Italian buyer. 

Hand. — Four inches. Width of the palm of the hand, used in 
measuring the height of the horse from the ground surface at the sole of 
the foot to the highest point of withers. 

Hand-Stick. — Used for measuring the height of horse. 

Head Strong. — Halter puller in stall. 

Heaves; Heavey. — "Broken wind," or "emphysema of the lungs," 
characterized by coughing, passing of gas from the rectum, and double 
bellows-like the action of the abdominal muscles in breathing. 

High Blower. — Broken winded or may be soft from feeding and 
idleness. 

Hillside. — Hipped. 



HORSE SECRETS 6l 

Hipped. — Point of hip-bone (ilium) fractured (knocked down), mak- 
ing that hip lower than the other when viewed from the rear, and not 
unusually a serious unsoundness. When distortion is great, the shaft of 
the ilium may have been fractured. The latter condition may render a 
mare unfit for breeding purposes. 

Hip Sweeny. — Wasting (atrophy) of the muscles of the hip. Often 
serious in mares, being associated with fracture of the pelvis, and unfitting 
them for breeding purposes. 

Hitch. — Stride of one hind leg too short. 

Hog-Back. — Arched or roached-back. The opposite of sway back 
or hollow back. 

Indian. — An untamed horse; dangerous to handle in or out of stall. 

Interfering. — Striking the fetlock or cannon with the opposite foot 
as it passes, either >n front or behind, or it may be an "ankle knocker." 

Jack. — A small, round, bone-spavin. As a market term, often applied 
to a prominent spavin. 

Jibber. — A green, raw, unguidable horse; a balker. 

Knee-Banger. — Strikes knees with opposing front foot ; knee-knocker. 

Lady-Toed. — Cow-hocked horse. They are almost sure to hit their 
fetlocks, shins or knees. 

Legs Go. — See Market Rules No. 5. 

Light in the Timber. — Light boned below knees and hocks. 

Little Green. — Awkward, poorly broken ; may not pull. 

Lop Ear. — Ears dropping over. May be a dummy. 

Lugger. — Pulls or lugs on the bit. 

Lunker. — An exceptionally big, heavy-boned horse. 

Makes a Little Noise. — A slight roarer or whistler. 

Mallenders. — Scurfy or eczematous condition of skin back of knees. 

Mecatched. — Jewish term for a heavey horse. 

Mechanical Choker. — A horse that roars when pulling a heavy load 
uphill, by getting the chin down to the chest, but is otherwise sound. 

Megrims. — Fits; staggers; sudden falling. 

Michigan Age. — Old. 

Michigan Pad. — See Cushion. A puff on forward edge of hind 
cannon just below hock. 

Moon-Blind; Moon-Eyed. — Eyes diseased or blind from periodic or 
recurrent ophthalmia. 

Mug. — A greenhorn or buyer from the country. 

Nicked. — Tail operated upon by severing the muscles to "set up" or 
straighten it. 

Nickel's Worth of Hair Off. — Wire cut; any slight superficial 
blemish. 

Nigger-Heeled. — Front toes turned out; heels in. 

Old Skin or Skate. — Aged, decrepit, or worn-out horse. 

One Bum Lamp. — One eye blind, diseased or unsound. 

Outbow-Footed. — Toes turned outward. 

Outside Cushion. — Same as Cushion or Michigan Pad. 

Over-Reach. — Stride takes hind feet farther forward than the point 
at which the fore ones were picked up, causing forging. 

Over-Shot. — Protruding upper jaw. 

Paddle. — "Winging" out with fore feet. 

Palsy. — Shiverer; chorea. 

Parrot Mouth. — Upper incisor (pincher) teeth protruding over lower 
incisors. Upper jaw longer and projecting over under jaw. 

Parrot-Toed Foot, Cross-Footed. — Toes turned inward. 

Peacock Neck. — Neck long and slim. 

Pigeon-Toed. — Front toes turned in. Opposite of nigger-heeled. 

Pig-Eye. — Small, retracted eyes. May indicate imperfect vision. 

Pilgrim. — An old, worn-out horse. A good old "has been." 



62 HORSE SECRETS 

Pin-Hipped. — Hipped from fracture of point of ilium. 

Pink-Eye. — Pinky, as a marl<et term, applied to moon blindness 
Correctly speaking, epizootic, cellulitis, or influenza, especially affecting 
the membranes of the eyes. 

Plug. — An old. worn-out horse, or one of poor shape 

PolI-Ev!I. — Swelling and abscess, similar to fistulous withers, affecting 
poll of head. 

Pones. — Lumps of fat on body of mule. 

Posting. — Rider rising and falling in saddle with each alternate step 
of horse when trotting. 

Puffing His Glims. — Blowing air under skin to fill out cavity over eye 
(page 21). 

Puffs. — Soft swellings involving joints or tendons. Distensions ol 
synovial bursal and capsular ligaments. Thoroughpins, wind-galls, bog- 
spavin. 

Pumice Foot. — Bulging, convex sole. 

Quarter Crack. — Fissure in wall of hoof running from hair toward 
sole at quarter. 

Quittor. — Enlargement of the hoof head (coronet) having one or 
more openings (pipes or sinuses) discharging pus and connecting with 
diseased cartilage or other tissues. 

Rat Tail. — Slim, almost hairless tail. 

Reinforced Joints. — Large spavin^ (exuslciscs ). 

Rejects. — Horses returned to seller on account of unsoundness, or 
for other reasons. 

Rickety. — Horse affected with rickets (rachitis). Same as Bobber 
or Jig Back. 

Ridgling; Original. — Cryptorchid. One <ir both testicles retained in 
abdomen or inguinal canal. 

Ringbone. — A bony growth (exostosis) affecting the long or short 
pastern bones and coffin bones. 

Ripper. — An unusually good, strong-going, big horse. 

Roached Mane. — Mane cut short. 

Roarer. — Horse makes a roaring noise when exhaling air, the condi- 
tion being due to paralysis affecting the nerves and cartilages of larynx. 
(Laryngeal hemiplegia.) 

Sallenders. — Scurfy or eczematous condition of the skin in front of 
hock joint. 

Sand-Crack. — A fissure of the wall of the hoof at the toe. 

Scalper. — A horse dealer who handles cheap or questionable horses. 
He may have no regular stable or business headquarters. 

Scalping. — Striking front of hind coronet, pastern or cannon against 
front toe when speeding. 

Seam in Foot. — Blemish, old scar, or healed crack in the hoof wall. 

Seams. — Cracks or longitudinal fissures of the hoof wall. 

Seedy-Toe. — Separation between wall and sensitive laminae of hoof at 
toe, the space being filled with white, dry, powdery horn ; sometnnes 
with pus ; "toe clip" is a common cause. 

Serpentine. — A horse that extends and withdraws his tongue as a 
serpent. 

Serviceably Sound. — See No. 2, Auction Rules. The term is incor- 
rect, as a horse is either sound or unsound. 

Shadow Jumper. — Nervous, skittish ; afraid of his own shadow. 

Shaky in Stall. — A shiverer. 

Shell-Bone. — Side-bone. 

Shipping Fever. — Influenza contracted on cars, or it may be accli- 
mation fever. 

Shiverer. — Afflicted with chorea (St. Vitus' dance). 



HORSE SECRETS 63 

Shoe Boil. — A Rerous abscess, or open pus discharging sore nr 
tumor of the point of the elbow. Caused by the horse bruising the elbow 
upon the floor, not necessarily upon the heel of a shoe, as commonly 
supposed. 

Short Leet. — The best horses selected by the judges from a number 
of competing animals in the show ring, and among which the prizes 
are distributed after further examination. 

Sickle Hock. — See curby-formed hock, 

Side-Bone. — A lateral cartilage of foot at quarter, turned to bone 
(ossified). 

Side Hopples. — Hopples laterally arranged, to make horses pace, keep 
them on the gait and prevent them from running. 

Side-Liner. — Drives on one line. 

Side-Wheeler. — A pacer. 

Siffon. — Jewish horse-dealers' word (spelling in doubt) meaning to 
run in bids on a greenhorn to boost price of horse. 

Slab-Sided. — Flat-ribbed. 

Smokes His Pipe. — Lip torn where bridle bit rests. 

Smoky Eye. — "A little smoky." Eye cloudy, whitish, pearly in color, 
or opaque. 

Smooth Mouth. — Cups or marks worn ofT incisor teeth, indicating 
great age. 

Snake-Bite. — .»\ favorite appellation of ringmen in auction sales to 
describe wire marks. 

Soot Balls (Corpora Nigra). — Masses of black coloring material 
(uvea) suspended from the edge of the iris into the pupilary opening 
of the eye. 

Spavin. — Bony enlargement or exostosis upon lower, inner, front 
aspect of hock joint. 

Speck in Eye. — A small scar of spot, not on pupil, and as a rule, not 
impairing vision. 

Speedy Cutting. — Striking the inside of the hind cannon against the 
front foot as the hind is brought forward and passes the front foot on 
the outside in over-reaching when the horse is speeding. 

Splay-Footed. — "Nigger-heeled," flat-footed. 

Splint. — A bony growth on course of splint-bone on either side of 
cannon-bone below the knee. 

Split Hoof. — Quarter-crack; sand-crack. 

Stag; Staggy. — Thick and coarse in throat-latch and crest from late 
castration. 

Standard. — The "hippometer," "hand-stick," or measure of wood 
or metal, with movable arm,, used to determine equine height in hands 
and inches. 

Stifled. — Patella of stifle out of place. Any disease of the stifle-joint. 

Stocked Legs. — "Filled" or dropsical, swollen legs below knees and 
hocks, the result of a lack of exercise or of sickness. 

Stringy; Stringhalt. — The hind leg is jerked up at each step in walk- 
ing and trotting. See Cramp. 

Stump Sucker. — See Cribber. 

Sweeny. — Wasting, (atrophy) of the muscles of the shoulder. 

Switcher. — Tail switching, nervous mare, that may also throw urine 

Takes a Little Hold. — A lugger. 

Talks to the Driver. — A roarer. 

Ten Minutes Short of Work. — Balky. 

Thoroughpin. — A fluctuating, bursal distension which can be pushed 
from side to side under the large tendon just above the hock joint. 

Tied in at Knees or Hocks. — Light bone and tendons, making 
the part markedly constricted under knee or hocks. 



NOV 21 1913 



64 HORSE SECRETS 

To Bush on Gristle. — To gfet a rebate on purchase price from a seller 
when a side-bone has been found after sale. 

Tongue Loller. — Tongue hangs from mouth. May be paralyzed. 

Too Much Daylight Under Him. — A leggy horse. 

Trephined. — A molar tooth removed by punching downward into 
mouth by means of an instrument inserted upon tooth root through an 
orifice cut (trephined) in bone of jaw. 

Trot Cut Short. — Short stride of fore legs. 

Undershot. — Protruding under jaw. 

Wall-Eye. — See Glass-eye. 

Washy Coupled. — Long and loose in coupling and cut up flank. A 
poor keeper that tends to scour when warm or tired. 

Weaver. — A horse that sways and swings backward and forward 
in stall. The action is akin to that of a caged bear, and the habit is learned 
by imitation or in idleness. It may indicate a high-strung, nervous 
temperament and the tendency to it may possibly be transmitted by an 
affected sire or dam. It seems to arise from the restlessness and longing 
to escape from "prison life," or, in short, suggests the "call of the wild." 

Weed. — A "misfit" or undersized, inferior horse. Term also used to 
mean a sudden attack of lymphangitis, "milk leg" "shot of grease" or 
"Monday morning disease." 

Whistler. — A form of roaring in which there is a slight or pronounced 
whistling noise made in exhaling air. 

Wiggler. — See Bobber. 

Wind and Work. — See No. 3, Auction Rules. 

Wind-Galls. — Puffs or bursal distensions at the sides of the tendons 
at and above fetlock joints. 

Windy. — Unsound in wind, a whistler or roarer. 

Winging. — Paddling or throwing the feet outward when in motion. 

Worker. — See No. 4, Auction Rules. 

Wears the Pants. — A pacer requiring hopples, or wearing them. 

W. W. — Short for "wind and work." 




A PARTIAL LIST OF THE 

Remarkable Booklets 

PUBLISHED BY THE 

WILMCR ATKINSON CO. 



POULTRY SECRETS: First published in 1908, this collection of 
the carefully guarded secrets of famous poultrymen created a 
sensation in poultry circles. Every secret is valuable and every 
one has passed severe tests of its usefulness. 64 pages, illustrated, 
15th Edition, 110th thousand. 

HORSE SECRETS : See preceding pages. 

HOLDCN'S CORN SECRETS : A new booklet by Prof. Holden, 
the great authority on corn growing. Tells how the country's 
corn crop could and should be increased 20 bushels to the acre. 
The only complete corn book Holden has ever written. 80 pages, 
profusely illustrated. 

THE MILLION EGG FARM : Describing the enormous business and 
plant of J. M. Foster's Rancocas Farm, where 20,000 laying hens 
are producing between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 eggs for market 
this year. Written specially for beginners. 80 pages, illustrated, 
4th Edition, S.'Sth thousand. 

CURTISS POULTRY BOOK : The story of the Curtiss Brothers and 
their Niagara Farm, built up from nothing to an annual business 
of 1100,000 per year. Ducks, Eggs, broilers and clover are their 
staples. A remarkable story. 56 pages, illustrated. 3d Edition, 
30th thousand. 

GARDEN GOLD : A new booklet written for people with small gar- 
dens, showing how to raise your own vegetables in these days of 
high prices and SAVE money. And how to MAKE money by 
selling your surplus. Splendid for people with back yards only. 
64 pages illustrated. 

HALF A TON OF BUTTER PER COW PER YEAR: Seven cows 
in America have reached this amazing record. Prof. Van Pelt of 
Iowa tells how it was done, how dairymen can largely increase 
their butter yield, and in many cases equal the famous seven. 
56 pages, illustrated. 

SHALL I FARM ? For city people trying to decide whether or not to 
go to the country. No golden promises, but a clear, impartial, 
unbiased, unprejudiced weighing of the subject. All the advan- 
tages and disadvantages of all kinds of farming plainly set forth. 
Nothing like it ever before printed. 64 pages. 



All of these booklets are similar to this. Send for complete cata- 
logs of our 14 booklets and the Biggie Farm Library of 10 volumes. 
The price of each, to Farm Journal subscribers only, is 

25 CENTS POSTPAID. 

To others they are sold only with a subscription, one copy of 
the booklet, with Farm Journal four full years, for $100. Address 

WILMER ATKINSON CO., Philadelphia. Pa. 



LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



002 854 839 4 



Wf W^Mt ill 




n^tihit^^ 



